Tensions & Hostilities
by musicjunkie04
Summary: a.k.a. 10 Things I Hate About You. Best friends Caroline and Elena have sworn off dating until after they graduate. But when Elena meets a new student, she has to get Caroline to go out with someone so she can actually go out on a date with him. What's the worst that could happen? Loosely based on the movie "10 Things I Hate About You." AU/AH. Weekly updates.
1. Prologue

**A/N: Just a (hopefully) brief comment from me before we begin this:**

"**Tensions & Hostilities" will be centered on the Caroline and Klaus pairing.**

**I wanted this to be more than simply "10 Things I Hate About You" with "The Vampire Diaries" character names; I wanted this to be more than Kat and Patrick with different names (in this case, Caroline and Klaus). I tried to morph the dialogue and actions to stay true to the TVD characters (minus the vampire or hybrid elements). But those who have seen "10 Things I Hate About You" will recognize some scenes and conversations.**

**And, of course, there will be some familiar TVD dialogue as well.**

**This is all-human, just in case that wasn't obvious.**

**This story will be much shorter than my previous story, "Jagged Pieces." Ten chapters seems amusingly appropriate for the length.**

**Disclaimer: Ownership here = nothing of mine.**

* * *

Welcome to Mystic Falls High School, in Mystic Falls, Virginia, home of the mighty Timberwolves. It's your typical small-town high school — not as cliquey as the teenage drama-filled (or horror-filled) movies which centre around 20-somethings playing high school students, but this school is not without its cliques either.

Elena Gilbert, one of the more popular seniors at Mystic High, pulled into a parking spot in the school's student parking lot on this particular Monday morning. The beautiful brunette, with pin-straight hair, chocolate-coloured eyes, and olive skin, grabbed her book bag from the passenger seat and got out of her car.

"Hey, Elena!"

She raised her head and saw one of her best friends walking towards her.

"Morning, Bonnie." Elena greeted her with a smile and a hug, noting that Bonnie's brown hair had a bit of a curl to it today, as opposed to its regular straightness, and her caramel skin was glowing.

"Where's Caroline?" Bonnie asked as she turned her head from side to side, looking around the parking lot for their other best friend. "Running late, again?"

"No, actually, she should be here already. Dance committee is in full swing, with prom being only a month or so away."

"Right," Bonnie said with a nod. "Speaking of the prom, are you going?"

Elena gave Bonnie a look. "You know I can't. Not unless Caroline is going."

"She's planning it," Bonnie pointed out as the two of them walked across the school yard, heading towards the entrance.

"Exactly. Care plans dances, but never attends. I doubt I will be either. Plus, I don't have a date."

"There's still time to get a date, Elena."

"Says the girl who has a boyfriend and a steady date."

Bonnie smiled hugely as Elena nudged her side. "Yes, I do." Bonnie was glad she and Elena could talk openly about the fact that Bonnie was dating Elena's younger brother, Jeremy, a junior. It had been awkward at first, but now that they had been dating for a few months, everyone was cool about it. "You could always ask Matt. I'm sure he'd say 'yes.' "

"That would be incredibly awkward. 'Hey, Matt. I know I broke up with you, but since we're still friends, will you go to prom with me?' " Elena laughed. "No way, Bon."

"Yea, that would be awkward."

"Not to mention mean," Elena pointed out.

"Plus," Bonnie continued, "You can't ask him until Caroline gets a date."

"Right. But it doesn't matter; Caroline won't get a date because she doesn't want one, and there's no one at this school I want to date, anyway."

Bonnie gave a slight shrug. "Maybe someone new will transfer here."

The two were walking the halls of Mystic High now, heading towards their lockers.

"Doubtful," Elena scoffed. "This is Mystic Falls; nothing exciting ever happens here and no one new ever moves to town."

Elena looked over at her best friend and saw a sly look on Bonnie's face.

"Bonnie Bennett, what is that look for?"

"What look?"

"That look." Elena wiggled her index finger at her friend. "That one all over your face right now."

Bonnie shrugged nonchalantly. "I arrived at school before you did, and as I walked from my locker out to meet you in the parking lot, I passed by the main office where I may have overheard the words 'new students.' "

" 'Students'? As in more than one?"

Bonnie nodded. "Brothers."

"Really?"

"And for your sake, I hope at least one of them is hot. There is a serious lack of male real estate at this school." Bonnie eyed the school's male population that was within her eyesight; nothing but awkwardly low, baggy pants or overly-gelled-to-the-point-of-being-super-greasy hair, which only proved her point.

"Don't I know it."

Bonnie reached her arm out in front of Elena, bringing them both to a halt. Elena turned to Bonnie, but Bonnie was looking past Elena. She had stopped them right outside the doors to the main office.

"There they are," Bonnie whispered. "The new guys. And lucky for you, they **are** hot."

"What?" Elena tore her eyes from the new guys to look at her friend, but Bonnie was still watching them. "How can you tell? All I see is back."

"Yea, hot backs."

Elena laughed as the first bell rang. "I guess we'll have to find out if their 'hot backs' match their fronts later. Come on, we can't be late." Elena grabbed Bonnie's arm and dragged her away from the office doors.

As the two reached a point where the school hallway intersected with another, Bonnie and Elena caught sight of Caroline.

"Bonnie, Elena. Good morning." She hugged them both. "Happy Monday, girls."

Caroline was sunshine personified. She was a bubbly, radiant blonde with blue eyes and creamy, pale skin. Today her hair was straight, but she often wore it in curls.

"Only in the world of Caroline Forbes are Mondays ever happy."

"Yes, and be glad that you're a part of that world," Caroline responded with a laugh as they continued walking towards their lockers. All three girls' lockers were located in the same corridor.

"How's the prom planning coming, Care?" Bonnie asked her.

Caroline sighed. "It feels slow and I'm starting to stress. But when I look at my trusty checklist here, I see that we're actually nearly finished." When a school event was looming, as the prom was, Caroline never went anywhere without her checklist. Call her controlling if you want — she won't deny it — but her methods always produced amazingly wonderful results.

"That's great, Care," Elena said, encouragingly. "I'm sure it will be amazing."

Caroline reached her locker and opened it as she responded. "It had better be, with all the stress it's causing me."

"Do you think you'll actually go to this one?" Bonnie asked. Elena gave Bonnie a look. "What?" she asked. "This **is** our senior prom."

Caroline turned up her nose. "It's a ridiculous social custom, Bon."

"That you're planning, Care," Bonnie pointed out as she grabbed her notebook from her locker.

"Yes, because I'm a control freak who enjoys event planning. And I'm good at it. But just because I plan the event doesn't mean I have to attend it myself." Caroline turned to Elena. "Did you put her up to this?"

"What? No."

"Because it's okay if you want to go, Elena. Seriously. I won't be upset."

Elena shook her head. "No, Care. A pinky swear is a pinky swear. I'm not breaking that."

They all laughed as they closed their lockers and parted ways, each girl heading to her first class of the day.

* * *

At lunch, Elena sat down at her usual table in the cafeteria. Moments later, Bonnie joined her.

"Just the two of us today," Bonnie said as she sat down. "Care texted; she has more prom stuff to do."

Elena frowned slightly. "Too bad. I feel like we won't get to see much of her now until prom is over."

"Or at prom, if you can convince her to go."

Elena gave Bonnie a 'get real' look. "I'm not holding my breath for that."

"So what exactly is this deal between you two, sealed with a pinky swear?"

Caroline and Elena often referenced or spoke directly about this agreement between them, but Bonnie had never known the details of it. They had made the agreement when Bonnie was not with them.

"We've sworn off dating until graduation," Elena said simply.

Bonnie burst into a fit of laughter.

"We're serious about this, Bonnie."

"I know, I know." Bonnie paused to regain some of her breath. "It's just a little hard for me to imagine Elena Gilbert and Caroline Forbes not dating." She started laughing again.

"Well, you know Caroline dated Tyler and that ended badly. And I dated Matt and that ended…" Elena trailed off.

"Awkwardly?" Bonnie provided.

"To say the least." Elena sighed. "When I finally ended things with Matt, I went over to Caroline's house because you were out of town with your dad. Care and I had ice cream and complained about our stupid exes. I made an off-hand remark about how we should just focus on ourselves and not date until graduation and Care thought it was a great idea. We could be proud and independent, you know. And we could focus more on school and leave Mystic High with good grades. So we pinky swore, right then and there: no more dating until graduation."

"That sounds harsh," Bonnie said before taking a bite of her lunch. "Is there no loophole?"

Elena gave a hesitant nod. "One: we can date only if the other person is dating."

Bonnie furrowed her brow. "So you can only double date?"

"No. The two dates don't have to be together, just at similar times. Or on nearby days."

Bonnie nodded in understanding. Then she remembered something Elena had said earlier in their conversation. "When you and Care were complaining about your exes, did she give you details about what happened between her and Tyler?"

Elena shook her head sadly. "The most common words she used to describe him were 'stupid,' 'liar,' and 'asshole.' "

"Nothing we didn't already know."

Elena nodded and ate her lunch.

"And what happens if one of the Mr Hot Backs has an equally hot front and you two get all flirty?"

Elena laughed. "Then nothing happens, because if I break the deal, then my friendship with Caroline is over."

"Wow, harsh."

"Yea." Elena made a face. "I'm not sure which one of us came up with that aspect of the deal."

* * *

Bonnie was right: the new students were brothers. Damon and Stefan Salvatore. Damon was a senior and Stefan was a junior.

* * *

**A/N: I had planned to wait and post this prologue once I had a more-complete version of "Tensions & Hostilities" so the posting process could flow smoothly. But I've found my inspiration is waning right now. I'm posting this chapter to gauge the interest level.**

**(And selfishly hoping that you will leave me a review, which never fails to inspire my writing.)**

**So please comment, or favourite, or follow — or any combination of these three — to let me know if you're interested, at all, in a story like this.**


	2. Chapter One: Beginnings & Introductions

Chapter One – Beginnings & Introductions

* * *

**A/N: The prologue was rather short; to make up for that, Chapter One is more than twice as long. :)**

**My goal, from here on out, is for weekly updates. (Goal, of course, being the key word here.)**

* * *

"Okay, here are you class schedules, your locker information, and a school map. My door is always open, unless of course it is closed. I do have a life, too, you know," the guidance counselor told Stefan and Damon Salvatore as they sat in her office on the morning of their first day at Mystic Falls High School. The brothers looked at each other, not sure if they should laugh because the guidance counselor had made a joke or if she was actually serious. "Now scoot, I have delinquents to see."

She ended their conversation with an unenthusiastic 'Welcome to Mystic High.'

As the Salvatore brothers left the office, Stefan nearly bumped into Klaus Mikaelson, who was waiting outside the guidance counselor's office.

She sighed and motioned for him to enter her office. "Mr Mikaelson, I see we're making these meetings a weekly ritual now."

Klaus smirked. "Of course." He spoke with a British accent. "I can't go too long without seeing you; I'd miss you too much," he said as he entered her office.

As the guidance counselor's door closed, Damon turned to his brother.

"Relax, Stef." He put his hand on his brother's perpetually-tensed shoulder. "You know, if you stopped looking so scared and spineless all the time, people wouldn't have nearly as many reasons to pick on you."

Stefan shrugged off Damon's hand. "Whatever, Damon."

Before Damon could further ridicule his brother, they were interrupted by a sandy-haired student.

"You must be the new guys."

"Apparently…" responded Damon.

"I'm Matt Donovan. I'm supposed to give you the tour."

As Stefan shook Matt's outstretched hand, Damon put his own hands up in the air. "No thanks. I can find my own way around."

And with that, Damon walked off.

* * *

"It says here you exposed yourself to a group of freshman girls," the guidance counsel said after she and Klaus concluded the staring match that always took place at the beginning of their meetings. It was an odd start to a meeting between a guidance counsel and a student, but it was the norm between this particular guidance counselor and this particular student. The counselor never won these stare-offs.

He scoffed. "It was a bratwurst. I was having lunch. It was a joke."

"And you were, what, eating with the teeth of your zipper?"

He rolled his eyes.

"Next time, keep it in your pants."

* * *

"So what's your story?" Stefan asked Matt as they walked down a hallway. "Mine is fairly obvious: new guy who just moved from one small town to another. Yours has to be more interesting."

Matt shrugged. "It's not. I was born here in Mystic Falls. I work part-time at the Grill — that's a restaurant and bar in the downtown section. And I'm the quarterback for our school's team."

"Quarterback? They typically aren't the ones who give school tours to new people."

Matt gave Stefan a half shrug. "You know the stereotype of a dumb jock?" Stefan nodded. "Well, it rings very true in my case, for the most part. There are a couple of classes that I'm not nearly failing. And to help improve my grades in any way, at all, in the classes that I am nearly failing, I often volunteer for the lame duties." Matt paused when he realized that he had just said. "No offense."

Stefan shook his head. "None taken."

They stopped outside a set of double doors. "This is the cafeteria. The food is terrible, but as it seems to be with most high school cafeterias, the food is irrelevant; the important thing is where you sit."

They walked past the doors, not entering; hardly anyone would be in the cafeteria in the morning anyway.

"This school is easily divided into your basic cliques," Matt explained. "We have your beautiful and popular people, the jocks, the loners, the nerds, the losers, the outcasts, and the stoners. The groupings are rather logical: the beautiful people hang out with the jocks, the losers hang out with the stoners, the nerds mostly spend time with other nerds, and the loners keep to themselves. And the outcasts aren't even on the social radar."

Stefan nodded. "That makes sense. I'd ask where you fit in, but high school quarterback? The answer seems obvious."

"Not quite. There are a few people, myself included, who hover around and hang out with different groupings, but most people stick to their clique. It's lame, but that's how you survive your time at Mystic High."

Stefan spent the remainder of the day wondering how quickly he would be sorted into a clique. At his old school, he was a nerd. But this was a new start, and he wanted to be with the popular people.

And hanging out with the quarterback would be a good start, right?

He already knew which group Damon would fit in with.

* * *

Caroline had to work on more prom stuff over lunch. She was currently painting a banner — a task she would have preferred to do at the end of the day, what with the messiness of paint and the likelihood of winding up covered in it and ruining her outfit, but after school she had cheer squad practice. And as cheer captain, she couldn't exactly skip a practice.

Caroline had thrown herself into her cheerleading practice after breaking up with Tyler. When she first auditioned, she was the only freshman to make the cheer squad. Since then, she's been proving herself as an amazing cheerleader.

She spent all summer working on it. When school started this year, Caroline was ready. And she was the clear choice when she auditioned for head cheerleader.

She slacked off and nearly abandoned cheerleading altogether when she dated Tyler — just another example of how bad of an influence he was — but she spent the months since their breakup working on her skills and the basic routines.

Caroline had finished painting her banner halfway through the lunch period. She gave it a quick once-over with her critical eye and nodded at how great it looked.

She walked over to the other side of the room, to see how Chad was progressing with the other banner.

"Chad?!" Caroline practically screeched. "This is all wrong! It's not supposed to look like a snake!"

He groaned. "I warned you that I suck at drawing."

"Ugh, never mind then. Give me the brush."

He handed the paint brush over to Caroline and she shooed him away. He turned and left the room.

"If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself," Caroline mumbled. And here she thought she might actually get to see Elena and Bonnie over lunch today.

_Thanks for nothing, Chad._

He had completely messed up this banner. Caroline immediately saw that she would be better off starting over completely.

* * *

Elena waked down the hallway at school on Tuesday morning, carrying her books to class, when she felt her phone vibrate with a text. As she shifted her books to one arm so she could pull her phone out of her pocket, she collided with someone. Her books went flying.

"Oh, no," Elena said with a sigh as she sunk down to the floor to grab her stuff.

"My apologies," said a smooth voice that was unfamiliar to Elena.

She looked up and met the bluest eyes she had ever seen. She was momentarily stunned.

Once she managed to pull her eyes from his face, she noticed that the stranger was tall with dark hair and that the front of his shirt was stained and dripping. She then noticed the cup in his hand.

"Oh my gosh, your coffee. I'm so sorry."

The stranger shrugged. "It was lukewarm, anyway. No harm, no scald."

Elena laughed, despite herself. The stranger helped pick up her books. They stood and he handed them back to her.

"Thanks. I'm Elena."

"I'm Damon."

They shook hands and Elena felt butterflies in her stomach when their skin touched.

_How clichéd, Elena. I thought that only happened in movies and cheesy romance novels._

Just then, the second bell rang, making them both officially late for class.

"Sorry, again, about your shirt."

"It's no big deal. I've been meaning to add a coffee-like colour to it anyway; you must have read my mind."

She laughed and suddenly became aware of how empty the hall was around them.

"I should get to class."

He nodded. "Nice to meet you, Elena."

As Elena walked away, she couldn't help but turn her head to get one more glimpse of him as they parted. She couldn't not do it.

But he caught her not-so-subtle glance because he, too, was watching her leave.

* * *

Caroline was sitting in her English class that afternoon. Everyone was bored, including the teacher. Caroline doodled in her notebook. Some of her classmates were staring off into space. And a few were trying really hard not to fall asleep.

The teacher spoke in a near monotone. "I guess that brings us to an end for our analysis of 'The Old Man and the Sea.' Does anyone have any final comments?"

Caroline raised her hand.

"Yes, Caroline."

"Why did we have to read this?"

The teacher seemed taken aback. "Excuse me?"

"The book was all about a guy and his fishing habit. That's not exactly an important topic."

Some of the other students rolled their eyes. Hearing Caroline Forbes speak out against something in class wasn't exactly new for them.

"Why are we supposed to worship Hemingway?" Caroline continued. "He was an abusive, alcoholic misogynist who had a lot of cats."

Tyler Lockwood, the cocky jock sitting two seats over from Caroline, spoke up. "As opposed to a bitter, self-absorbed prude who has no friends?"

A few of their classmates giggled. Caroline narrowed her eyes, ignoring him. This was the commonplace dialogue between these two ever since they broke up. Commonplace, but not lighthearted chatter.

"That's enough, Mr Lockwood." The English teacher tried to intervene.

But Tyler's words just fuelled Caroline's already blazing fire.

"I guess being male and an asshole makes one worthy of our time."

The muttering in the classroom stopped.

"Why can't we read something decent from a female writer?" Caroline continued. "How about one of the Bronte sisters? Or Simone de Beauvoir? Or even Jane Austen?"

Klaus, who was lounging in the back row, raised his head from the paper in front of him long enough to suggest "Mother Goose?" before returning his attention to the drawing he was working on.

And the drawing was good. It was really good. It wasn't the typical I'm-bored-in-class-so-I'll-doodle-shapes-and-scrib bles-in-the-margins kind of drawings. This was an actual, proper drawing. Klaus Mikaelson had artistic talent. His art had a Renaissance feel to it.

The class tittered nervously at his comment; they were unsure if they should laugh at what he said, since he was someone Matt would have classified as outcast.

Caroline was the only one not fighting against a laugh. She wore an expression of intolerance.

* * *

Bonnie's father, a travelling salesman, was having car troubles and needed to borrow his daughter's car until his was fixed. ("Which should take only a few more days," her father had said.) Caroline gladly offered to carpool with Bonnie to and from school, when she wasn't held late from dance committee or cheerleading.

On this particular day, Caroline didn't have any prom committee meetings or cheer practices to keep her late after school, so she and Bonnie left when the majority of the student body was leaving.

Just as Caroline went to back out of her parking spot, Bonnie spoke.

"Is that Elena?"

Caroline stopped trying to back up and looked in the same direction as Bonnie. She saw their friend. And she wasn't alone. She was talking to a tall, unfamiliar guy with dark hair.

"Who is she with?" Bonnie wondered aloud.

"That's Damon Salvatore," Caroline explained, not taking her eyes off Damon and Elena. "He just moved to town with his father and his brother, Stefan. Both brothers were born in Italy, but moved over to the states before either of them started school."

"He's one of the new students?"

Caroline nodded.

"I knew they were hot." Bonnie paused. "How do you know so much about them? It's only their second day here."

"Please," Caroline scoffed, giving Bonnie a look. "I learned all that before second period yesterday."

Bonnie laughed.

"What can I say? I'm the sheriff's daughter; I'm a natural investigator."

"You say investigator, I say gossiper."

"Whatever. Information is information."

"Wait. If you knew that much about the new guys, the…"

"Salvatores," Caroline provided.

"Right, the Salvatores. If you knew so much about them yesterday, why am I just hearing that 'information' now?"

"Just because I hear the information, or gossip, doesn't mean I repeat it, Bon. I only pass along what I find interesting. And they do not interest me."

"What if they interested me?"

"You could have asked. I had no idea you wanted to know about them. And why do you? You have a boyfriend."

"A girl with a boyfriend can still appreciate the good looks of other guys."

They both laughed.

At that moment, both girls shifted their gazes back to Elena and Damon. They saw Damon reach over to Elena's face and tuck some of her hair behind her ear.

"That's a charming new development," Bonnie said.

Caroline watched it happen, but she didn't comment. Part of her was delighted to see Elena looking so happy with a guy. But another part of Caroline was worried. If Elena wanted to do more than flirt with Damon Salvatore at school, she was going to come after Caroline, wanting her to date someone, too.

_Ugh!_ _That stupid deal._

Caroline wanted her friend to be happy, but she didn't want to date some loser just so Elena could find that momentary happiness. She liked being single and focusing on herself. She felt so much better because of it.

She didn't need a guy in her life right now.

_Ugh!_

She knew she's eventually come to regret this 'deal' she had made with Elena.

* * *

Stefan was forced to wait by Damon's car at the end of the day. His brother was just a few feet away, flirting with some girl he had met. Matt just so happened to walk by while Stefan was waiting.

"Hey man. How was the rest of your day?"

"Typical new guy stuff. People staring at me but not speaking to me."

"It'll pass," Matt offered. "You're just new and exciting right now; we don't get a lot of new people around here."

Stefan scanned the area. "I've been categorizing everyone I see into the categories you mentioned. Is everyone's classification really as obvious as it seems."

"Yep. The beauty of small towns."

"Like that guy," Stefan said as he gestured to Tyler Lockwood, who was leaning against his fancy, expensive convertible. "Jock, definitely. Rich, obviously. And a pig, seeing as how he's ogling every girl who walks by him."

"Pretty much spot on. That's Tyler Lockwood, only son of the mayor. He's got a fancy football scholarship all lined up for when he graduates. But he's not as dumb as he'd let you believe."

"Does he always have that shit-eating grin on his face?"

Matt laughed. "Yea, perma-shit-grin. But he's also my friend, so you'd better stop stereotyping him now before you cross a line."

Stefan smiled and nodded.

"Hey, Matt. Who's that with my brother?"

Matt looked over and saw Damon with Elena.

"Elena Gilbert."

"One of the beautiful people, obviously."

"Definitely. But not the rude ones; Elena is the sweetest person you'll ever meet."

Stefan noted the look on Matt's face. Rejection and hurt, but the still-lingering feelings from a crush.

Stefan caught Matt staring. "Your ex?"

Matt shifted his gaze to the ground and muttered a "Yep."

Stefan was quite for a moment. "My brother is an ass."

Matt laughed and looked at Stefan again, but before he could say the 'Yep' that he planned to say, Damon spoke.

"I heard that, brother."

Stefan hadn't noticed that Damon and Elena had made their way over to Damon's car.

"Hi, Matt," Elena said.

"Hey," he responded, stiffly. He turned to Stefan. "I'll see you around, Stefan." And with that, Matt walked away.

Elena sighed as the Salvatore brothers turned to face her. "He hates me," she explained.

"I don't think he hates you," Stefan offered. "I think he's still heartbroken."

"Your ex?" Damon asked.

"Yea," Elena nodded. "We've been friend all our lives and dating just felt like something we should try. But it wasn't right. We didn't have any…" Elena trailed off, unable to come up with the appropriate word.

"Chemistry?" Damon offered.

Elena smiled. "Exactly. We didn't have any chemistry. We're better off as friends."

"Tell that to Matt," Stefan muttered. But Damon and Elena were too focused on each other again to hear Stefan's comment.

* * *

Caroline found herself having dinner at the Gilbert house the following evening. Caroline's mother, Sheriff Liz Forbes, was hardly ever home and Elena's mother took pity on Caroline, giving her an open-ended invitation to have dinner with them.

Caroline loved spending time with the Gilbert family — it gave her an up-close, in-person view of a regular, functional family. Doctor Gilbert ran the town's only family practice and always made it home just in time for dinner. It was the Gilbert family rule: everyone had to be present for dinner each night. Caroline usually joined them two or three times a week and she loved the Gilbert family dinners; they always made her feel included.

The seemingly idyllic setting and function of the Gilbert family was a stark contrast to what Caroline experienced in her own home. No one would ever consider the Forbes family as perfect or ideal; it was far from it.

But Caroline's childhood had been idyllic. At least, she considered it to be so. As an only child, she was adored by both of her parents. She was happy.

She was especially close with her father. Bill could always tell what his 'little princess' was thinking, and they were inseparable. Bill's job allowed him to work mostly from home, out of his home office, while Caroline's mother, Liz, worked hard to become sheriff of the Mystic Falls police station. She often worked late nights and early mornings, leaving lots of time for Bill and Caroline to bond, but not much time for Liz and Caroline to form much of a bond, and hardly any time for Liz and Bill to continue growing in their marriage.

So instead, Bill and Liz grew apart. Over the years, they became two completely separate people who hardly knew each other, but who lived together and were connected by only their daughter and a marriage.

Caroline never noticed how the relationship between her parents changed, though. She was too young and too delightfully oblivious.

Liz was given quite the shock, though, when Bill confronted her with the truth: he was gay.

"What? Bill, no. You're not. You can't be. We're married."

"I am. I'm gay. I think I've known for a few years, but now I'm finally ready to admit it. Out loud. I'm gay. And I'm moving out."

If Liz was being honest with herself, she had expected the part about her husband moving out or wanting a divorce. But gay? She never saw that one coming at her. "What about Caroline?"

"She'll stay here with you," Bill said, deciding for everyone in the family. "No sense in uprooting her away from her friends and school."

"So you're leaving town." Liz wasn't asking; she could tell by his words and his expression.

But Bill answered anyway. "Yes."

And very shortly after that, Bill moved in with his 'friend' Steven.

Caroline was 11 and felt as if her entire world was crashing down around her. She cried when her father moved out, and she cried every day after school for the next two weeks — she never cried at school; she refused to let anyone see her cry — not even Elena or Bonnie, and certainly not Liz. She cried while her mother was too busy working to see how Caroline was handling the divorce of her parents.

When he first moved out, Caroline saw Bill every other weekend. And she lived for those weekends — she would count down the days, and then the hours, until she would get to see her father. But then the visits eventually faded to once a month. Then only on special occasions — Thanksgivings, Christmases, Steven's daughter's birthdays, etc.

He only lived four towns over, but Caroline hardly saw her father anymore.

With Bill gone, Caroline was left with just her mother. Liz still worked crazy and long hours. The two became even more distant than they already were. They never really knew each other.

Now, Caroline's relationship with her mother was tense, emotionally distant, and sometimes hostile. Perhaps that's another reason why the Sheriff chose to work the hours that she did. Work must have been easier that dealing with an annoyed teenager.

That's why Caroline so treasured her dinners with the Gilberts. They made her feel welcome and a part of the family.

But at the same time, a part of Caroline also felt like an outsider amongst them, no matter how welcoming they were to her.

She did not fit in with them completely. She was not a Gilbert, after all.

After dinner, the girls went up to Elena's room, on Mrs Gilbert's orders, to do their homework. Bonnie came over shortly thereafter and joined them.

But they were doing anything except homework.

"Caroline drove me home after school today. And yesterday," Bonnie said, casually. She was trying to ease Elena into dishing about Damon.

"Oh, right. Your dad still has your car?"

"Yes," Bonnie replied with a groan. "He keeps telling me 'only a few more days, hun; my car will be fixed in a few more days.' " Bonnie rolled her eyes. "I say, 'Right, dad. Sure.' "

"Well, if Caroline can't drive you any time, you know you can always call me, right?" Elena verified, thinking that was why Bonnie had brought up the subject.

"Thanks, Elena."

Caroline rolled her eyes at her friend. "Ugh, no Elena. That's not what Bonnie was hinting at." Caroline turned her gaze to Bonnie. "I told you; subtlety will get you nowhere fast."

Bonnie and Elena both chuckled at that.

"We saw you yesterday, Elena, after school. You were totally flirting with Damon Salvatore."

Elena sputtered. "I — Uh — Well — I."

Caroline and Bonnie laughed as Elena blushed.

"I made a fool of myself in front of him at our first meeting, but he didn't go running off."

"So what happens now?" Bonnie asked.

Elena turned to Caroline. "I really like him, Care."

Caroline smiled at her friend; she hadn't seen Elena smile like that since she ran over to Caroline's house to tell her that she and Matt had their first kiss.

The room got quiet as no one responded to Elena's comment.

Bonnie tried to bite back at the wave of jealousy that always threatened to come over her whenever she heard of Elena and Caroline's 'deal.' If the three of them formed a triangle out of their friendship, it would not be equilateral. Bonnie knew she was closer to Elena and to Caroline that the other two were to each other. That was just the way their friendship worked. They were all best friends, but Elena and Caroline would always confide in Bonnie before going to each other.

Their friendship was best represented by an isosceles obtuse triangle, where the Caroline point was of equal distance from the Bonnie point as the Elena point was, but both the Elena point and the Caroline point were as far away as possible from each other without actually forming a straight line with the Bonnie point. They were all best friends, but of varying degrees.

And now Caroline and Elena had something that was bringing them closer, while pushing Bonnie slightly further away.

The shape of their friendship triangle was shifting.

Bonnie shook her head slightly to dispel the jealousy and decided to break the silence. She looked to Elena as she spoke. "Well, Elena, now all you need to do is get a date for Caroline and then you can date Damon. Doesn't he have a brother?"

Caroline scoffed. "Please."

Elena instantly warmed to the idea. "That's not a bad idea, Bonnie."

"Oh my gosh, Elena. No. I'm not going to date the brother of the guy you like. That's all kinds of weird."

"Okay, fine then. I'll find someone else for you, Care."

"No! Don't you dare!"

"Care, please. Can't you just find some random someone to take you to the movies so I can have one date with Damon?"

"I'm sorry. I guess you'll have to miss out on all that is the mysterious, charming new senior."

"You suck."

" 'You suck,' " Caroline responded, lovingly mocking her friend. She looked around the room and suddenly noticed how dark it was outside. "I had better get home before my mother suddenly becomes a concerned parent and sends out a search party." She quickly gathered her belongings, said goodbye to her friends, and left for home.

Caroline had only been gone for a few moments when Elena turned to Bonnie.

"Help me, Bonnie. Please," Elena was almost whining. "What can I do about this?"

Bonnie laughed and shook her head. "Nope, sorry Elena. This is your deal with Caroline; I am **not** getting involved."


	3. Chapter Two: A Possible Solution

Chapter Two – A Possible Solution

* * *

Elena was having a bad week. She had been asked to stay after History class, only to find out that she was almost failing. The teacher had drawn Elena's attention to her grade because she was doing so well in all her other classes. The discrepancy was incredibly noticeable. Elena knew History was her worst subject, but she had no idea that she was nearly failing.

Though come to think of it, she had done rather miserably on the most of the tests.

It didn't help matters for Elena that Matt was in her History class and sat next to her. They had been dating when the class started, and now they were stuck in those seats, thanks to the History teacher's preference of assigned seating. Elena admitted, only to herself, that now she spent most of that class thinking of ways to make him not hate her anymore. (She was failing in **that** subject even more so than she was failing History.)

_What a week!_ The only bright spots had been hanging out with her friends and meeting Damon.

But those two bright spots sort of conflicted. Elena knew she couldn't do much more than flirt with Damon until Caroline got a date. And as much fun as it was to flirt with him, Elena wanted to go out with him. But the odds of Caroline going on a date were minimal; she seemed to really enjoy being single: she was more focused on her school work, the dance committee, and cheerleading, not the mention the other committees Caroline belonged to. (Those three named were the ones that ranked most-important at the current moment.)

In fact, if Caroline hadn't already loaded so much onto herself, Elena would have asked for her help in History. Caroline would have agreed to help her friend out — she still, now, would agree to help — but between the prom, cheerleading, and doing her own school work, Elena knew Caroline didn't have a whole lot of time for much else. And besides, Elena wanted her time with Caroline to just be about hanging out and having a good time — she didn't want that time to be about studying or school work.

That's why Elena found herself sitting in the library on Thursday afternoon, after school had ended for the day, waiting for her school-assigned tutor.

"Hi," her tutor said as he sat down. "Sorry I'm late. I got turned around on the way here and I think I ended up taking the long way."

Elena smiled when she recognized him. "Oh, hello again. You're my tutor?"

"I am."

"I'm Elena."

"Oh, I know that; your name is on the tutoring information they gave me." He brought attention to the folder he was carrying by waving it slightly. Elena nodded.

His comment was followed by an awkward silence. "Sorry, I don't know your name." Elena blushed, embarrassed by her rudeness.

"Stefan."

"Stefan, right. Hi. Nice to officially meet you. Though we did sort of meet the other day after school."

"Right," Stefan said, trying to act like he hadn't remembered that moment.

"Now I have to warn you," Elena prefaced. "I am terrible at History."

"Well, I am quite good at it, so I guess that's why I'm here." He set down the books he was carrying onto the table top and settled into his seat.

"The school assigned the new kid to be a tutor?"

"I've had great History grades throughout school; I guess they noticed that on my transcript."

"How can anyone be good at History?" Elena asked with a groan.

He shrugged. "I've always found it easy to remember dates."

"Lucky you. I sure can't. They all kind of jumble together for me."

They spent the next hour together, going over the most recently-covered chapter from the textbook.

Elena tried to concentrate on what Stefan was explaining to her, and she really did try to pay attention when he showed her some tricks for memorizing important dates and events, but she was constantly sidetracked from her studies by thinking about who Stefan's brother was.

Elena would be lying if she didn't admit that she liked Damon. A lot. And she was pretty sure he liked her too. He found her before and after school, and at lunch, on Wednesday.

So she had been avoiding him all day Thursday. She couldn't risk this going any further and having to turn him down because of her deal with Caroline.

But Elena knew she wouldn't get anywhere with her History work if she didn't get the Damon thing off her mind right now.

"I know I shouldn't, since you're already attempting to help improve my History grade, but can I ask you for another favour?"

"Of course."

"Can you **not** tell your brother that you've seen me today? I'm been avoiding him for most of the day."

"Trouble in paradise?" Stefan asked with a smile.

"Not exactly. It's not what you think."

"Then explain it."

"I think he wants to ask me out. But I can't say 'yes,' despite how much I want to, so I've been dodging him."

"Why can't you say yes? Are you dating someone else?"

Elena laughed. "No. I almost wish that was my problem. No. I kind of made a deal with one of my best friends that we wouldn't date until graduation."

Her answer shocked him. "Wow."

"Yea. And if one of us breaks that deal, we'd ruin our friendship."

Stefan laughed. He couldn't help it. "That seems rather drastic."

Elena nodded.

"Why would you swear off dating?"

"We didn't swear it off; not exactly. We can date, when the other one does."

Stefan could easily see an answer to Elena's 'problem.' "So find a date for her so you can stop avoiding my brother."

Elena shook her head. "It's not that simple. Caroline has some… rather high maintenance moments, sometimes. And most people around here know it. Plus, she had a bad, sort-of public breakup with her last boyfriend. No one is going to willingly walk into a situation like that."

"Someone might," he offered. "It would be like extreme dating."

"I can't think of one person who would go out with her. And I've known almost everyone here my entire life." Elena paused, and then her face lit up when the idea struck her. "Unless someone new to town were to take an interest in Caroline," she hinted.

Stefan chuckled nervously. "Uh, no. I wouldn't know how to even **begin** to deal with someone described as 'high maintenance.' " He looked down at the History textbook for a moment, hoping to diffuse the potentially awkward tension — he had just rejected and potentially offended her best friend. To ease some of the tension, he spoke again, offering an alternate solution. "Maybe that's your problem. Maybe you are too close. It might take a newbie outsider to find her a date."

"I hate talking about Caroline behind her back like this, but I really like your brother. Do you think you could find someone to date her? Do you think you could find someone that extreme?"

"I can certainly try."

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

Stefan shrugged. "You seem nice, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't notice the way my brother's face lights up around you. He deserves to be happy, and if you are what makes him happy, I'm glad to offer any help on the matter that I can. He wasn't too thrilled at the prospect of moving here, but I think with your help, this town might just grow on him."

Elena couldn't stop the smile that resulted from Stefan's words, even if she had wanted to. But, of course, she didn't. She liked the idea that she could change Damon's opinion of Mystic Falls.

* * *

Friday morning found Stefan sitting at a lab table at the back of the science classroom. He was sitting next to Matt and they were speaking with each other whenever the teacher turned around to write on the board.

"So I guess the dumb jock stereotype doesn't apply to you regarding science classes." Stefan was referring to the fact that they were in the Honours Biology class.

Matt shrugged. "I like Biology. What can I say?" They were quite for a few moments, listening to the teacher speak. But at the first opportunity, Matt spoke to Stefan again. "You really said you'd help find someone to date Caroline Forbes?"

Stefan had related his conversation with Elena to Matt that morning; he wasn't sure if he should, considering it was still very obviously awkward between Matt and Elena, and Stefan was trying to make it possible for Elena to date his brother, but Stefan didn't have anyone else to talk to. And Matt knew everyone; he might be helpful with this, too.

"All Elena said was Caroline. I don't even know who she is."

Matt subtly pulled his phone out of his pocket and placed it down on the tabletop between him and Stefan. Stefan kept watch on the teacher as Matt searched for a photo on his phone. He hadn't removed the ones from when he and Elena had dated; she often used his phone to take pictures when they hung out with their friends. He found a picture of him, Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline, and pushed his phone closer to Stefan.

"The blonde," Matt told Stefan in a whisper.

Stefan examined the blonde in the picture. She was radiant. "Shouldn't be a difficult to find someone who wants to go out with her."

Matt shook his head.

"Elena did say something about 'high maintenance.' "

Matt chuckled under his breath. "Understatement, man."

Stefan let out a frustrated sigh; maybe this was a mistake. He should have looked into the girl more before he promised to find a date for her.

As he contemplated the taste of the foot he now had in his mouth, he looked around the classroom. He looked past Matt and his eye caught the guy sitting in the other back corner of the classroom.

"What about him?" The guy in question was sitting alone at the lab table. He appeared to be intensely focused on taking notes, but as Stefan watched a little longer, he realized the guy's pencil wasn't writing; he was sketching. He was so absorbed in his drawing that Stefan could tell, even from across the width of the classroom, that this guy was not simply doodling, but actually drawing.

Matt followed Stefan eye line, saw who he was looking at, and turned back to Stefan. "No way, man."

"Why not?"

"I'll explain later," Matt said in a harsh whisper.

Stefan only had to wait a few moments before the teacher finished teaching and gave them time to work on their homework questions.

"Why not him?" Stefan asked, looking past Matt at the guy in question again.

"Stop staring at him. He'd never go out with Caroline. More importantly, Caroline would never go out with him."

"How do you know?"

"Because that is Klaus Mikaleson. He's a criminal; he just did a year for setting fire to a state trooper. He's certainly tough; he'd fight anyone at this school. I've heard he spends time out at the old quarry, lighting stuff on fire."

Stefan raised an eyebrow, skeptically. "They let felons enrol in the Honours Biology class?"

Matt gave him a look. "I'm serious, Stefan. The guy is psychotic. He's seriously wacked. He sold his own liver on the black market so he could buy new speakers."

"He sounds like the kind of guy who could handle a difficult woman."

" 'Difficult'?" Matt scoffed and went to brush off Stefan's suggestion, but then he thought about that. "You know, you might be right. I never would have considered him as a date for Caroline."

"Now all we have to go is talk to him."

Matt gestured to Stefan. "I'll let you handle that."

* * *

At lunch that same day, Matt and Stefan walked into the cafeteria. Matt led Stefan over to the jock table.

Matt's proposal was to bring Tyler in on the plan. Matt knew Tyler had very recently developed an eye for Elena — recent as in since Matt and Elena had broken up. He didn't think Tyler stood a chance with Elena — Matt was pretty sure that she would never go out with Tyler — but he never said anything about it to Tyler; he selfishly liked the idea of Elena turning down his all-star friend.

But Tyler also represented an interesting issue. He wasn't a conflict of interest, per say, but he was Caroline's ex. Was it wrong that Matt thought to involve Tyler in the plan to get a date for Tyler's ex-girlfriend? Tyler **was** wanting to sleep with his ex's best friend, who also happened to be the ex of one of Tyler's friends.

_Talk about a complicated situation._

Matt didn't know much about Klaus — only what he'd heard around school and town, actually — but he doubted that Klaus could be easily persuaded into asking someone out. Klaus would need to benefit from this in some way, and what motivated a teenager more than money? Klaus's family was large and not too well-off, so it seemed logical that he would go for some extra cash.

And Matt wanted to help Stefan out. He couldn't imagine how annoying it would be to be a new person in a small town. Or the new kid in school.

Matt sat down at the table right next to Tyler and Stefan sat down in the seat directly across from him.

"Hey man," Tyler greeted Matt. "What's he doing here?" He asked Matt as he eyed Stefan suspiciously.

"I thought I'd introduce you two."

"Hey," Stefan said, extending his hand to Tyler, who promptly ignored it.

"Why? Is he lost?" Tyler asked.

Stefan was getting annoyed that Tyler was speaking to him about as if he weren't sitting right there.

"Nope," Stefan answered, forcing Tyler to look at him again. "I just came by to chat."

"We don't chat," Tyler responded as he gestured with his hands to shoo Stefan away.

Stefan did not appreciate Tyler's attitude. So instead of leaving, he leaned forward in his seat and the narrowness of the cafeteria table allowed him to invade Tyler's personal space, much to Tyler's annoyance. "Actually, I thought I'd run an idea by you. You know, just to see if you're interested."

Tyler shook his head. "I'm not."

"Hear him out," Matt suggested.

"It involves Elena Gilbert," Stefan said. "You're interested in her, aren't you?"

Tyler didn't respond, but his expression gave away his interest. Yea, he was interested in Elena. She was the next logical step in his goal to conquer every decent-looking girl in school.

"We know about the agreement between Caroline and Elena, regarding dating."

"Meaning you can't have anything with Elena until Caroline gets a date," Matt clarified.

Tyler knew about that particular agreement. It angered him. His stupid ex was doing everything in her power to piss him off. "Does this conversation have a purpose? Or are you just stating the facts of my current situation?"

"We've figured out a plan for you," Matt explained. "Well, actually, Stefan has come up with the plan."

"It's simple," Stefan said, picking up where Matt left off. "What you need to do is recruit a guy who'll go out with Caroline. Find someone who's up for that job, and you'll be free to go after Elena."

Matt clenched his jaw when Stefan said 'go after Elena,' as if she were a prize to be won or a possession to be claimed. But he remained silent; he knew that Stefan was just saying what Tyler wanted to hear.

Tyler was skeptical, but he noticed the specific tone of Stefan's voice. "You say 'someone' like you already know who could fill that role."

Stefan looked around the cafeteria and stopped Klaus sitting alone at a table. Stefan turned back to Tyler and pointed to Klaus.

"That guy?" Tyler seemed doubtful. "I heard he was a roadie for Marilyn Manson."

"Exactly," Stefan simply said.

Tyler narrowed his gaze at Tyler. "What's in it for you?"

Stefan shrugged. "Not much. I just want a little recognition: when I'm walking down the hallway and I say 'hello' to you, I want you to say 'hello' to me."

Tyler gave a reluctant nod. "I get it; you become cool by association."

Stefan nodded back. "At my old school, I was rather less-than cool." But things would be different at this school; he had told himself that when he found out he was moving, and now he was trying to ensure that it **would** definitely be different. No more being pushed around, no more name-calling, no more being forced to do someone else's homework or assignments. He was taking control of his own social fate now.

"That doesn't surprise me, dude," Tyler said with an amused smirk.

Stefan ignored his comment. "Do we have a deal?"

Tyler thought about it. Sure, he didn't want to pay Mikaelson; any interaction he ever had with Klaus had been full of loathing. But he wanted to have sex with Elena. She was the target for his next conquest, and Tyler always got what he wanted eventually. But with Caroline's stupid deal in place, what other option did he have than to follow this plan and include Matt, this new idiot, and now Mikaelson. "Yea, fine. Whatever. Now leave me." Tyler ordered them away.

Stefan promptly stood and began walking away; he was going to lose his temper if he spent much more time around Tyler Lockwood.

As he exited the cafeteria through the main doors, Matt caught up with him.

"Are you sure that we should get that guy involved?" Stefan asked as they walked down the hallway.

"We didn't have much choice, man. Neither one of us comes from great wealth. How else could we get Klaus Mikaelson to agree to this?"

Stefan could see Matt's point.

"Besides," Matt continued, "When you let the enemy think he's orchestrating the battle, you're in a position of power. We let him pretend he's calling the shots, and while he's busy making plans and setting things in motion, your brother has the free path and time to spend with and date Elena."

"That is a smart plan. You really defy the dumb joke thing, Matt."

He chuckled at that. "Only sometimes."

* * *

After Klaus finished eating, he spent the remainder of his lunch period in the guidance counselor's office.

She began speaking while she was still looking at the chart in her hands. "You haven't done anything too idiotic this week. Very out of character, Klaus." She raised her eyes from the chart and she wore a mocking expression. "Are you not feeling well?"

Klaus pursed his lips and tilted his head in thought. "I do believe I have a touch of the flu."

"I'm afraid I'm at a bit of a loss, then." She set the chart down on her lap and laid one hand down on top of the other, both resting on the chart in her lap. "What should we talk about?"

Klaus merely shrugged.

"How about we discuss how you missed almost the entire year of classes last year?"

Klaus smirked but remained silent.

The guidance counselor shot him a withered glance; this was not the first time she had tried to bring up his 'missing' year, but as always, he refused to even acknowledge it. The only thing she knew for certain was that he had parental permission for his prolonged absence, at that was all the school really required. "Okay, how about we talk about how you skip out nearly every day. You've missed a different class every day this month."

He answered with a charming smile. "I'm an equal opportunity truant."

The counselor sighed. "Fine. Go do something revolting and unacceptable," she said as she waved her hand in his direction. "That will give us something to talk about next week."

"Lovely chatting with you, as always," Klaus joked as he stood and left the office.

He exited the main office and turned to walk down the hallway, but he found that his path was blocked by Tyler Lockwood.

"I knew I'd find you here, Mikaelson."

Klaus rolled his eyes and walked faster to get away from him. "Piss off, Lockwood."

Tyler grabbed Klaus arm and roughly pulled him aside. "Come with me."

Klaus shrugged his hand off. "You must have lost your mind, if you think you can order me around."

Tyler turned his head to look down the hallway, in the opposite direction that Klaus had been walking in, and pointed. "See that girl?"

Klaus could see that Tyler would persist until he made his point or served whatever purpose he felt he needed to include Klaus in on, so he let his eyes follow the direction Tyler was pointing in. All he could see was a beautiful blonde girl standing by an open locker, chatting in an animated fashion with some bloke and pointing occasionally to the clipboard in her hands. He recognized her from a couple of his classes over the years, and from just generally going to the same school with her.

"The blonde?" Klaus asked.

Tyler nodded.

Klaus shrugged. "Yes, so?"

"That's Caroline Forbes. I want you to go out with her."

"Yea, sure mate. I'll get right on it." Klaus brushed past Tyler and tried to continue on his way.

Much to Klaus's annoyance, Tyler fell in step beside him. "Dude, come on. She's decent-enough looking, and she's kind of smart. Plus, she's a cheerleader." Tyler did a sort of sing-songy voice thing as he said the word 'cheerleader' and proceeded to wink and nudge Klaus's side.

Klaus got annoyed with Tyler Lockwood at the best of times, when the two hardly ever interacted. This bizarre conversation was pushing Klaus to the peak of his tolerance level of Tyler's idiocy. "What is this, the in-person version of an online dating profile?"

"Look. I can't take out her best friend until Caroline there gets a date. See, the two of them made this ridiculous agreement where—"

"Fascinating, really," Klaus said as he rolled his eyes and cut off Tyler's too-long explanation. "Not my problem." The dislike between these guys was as obvious as it was mutual.

Tyler sped up for a step or two and managed to block Klaus's way. "Would you be willing to make it your problem if I provide generous compensation?"

For once, Tyler Lockwood managed to genuinely surprise Klaus. "You're going to pay me to take out some girl?"

"Yea. I can't date her friend until she," he pointed in Caroline's direction again, "gets a date. But here's the catch: she doesn't want one."

Klaus paused, thinking about this. The girl, Caroline, was rather beautiful. He could think of worse ways to pass his time, as well as worse people to pass time with. And if he was taking money away from the silver-spooned Lockwood, that could be an added bonus. "How do you expect me to date someone who doesn't want to date?"

"Use the charm you have buried deep, _deep_ inside." Tyler spoke with a Cheshire grin.

Klaus rolled his eyes. "How much are we talking about?"

"Twenty bucks each time you take her out."

Klaus scoffed. "I can't take out a girl like that on twenty bucks."

"Fine, thirty."

Klaus raised his eyebrow, silently urging Tyler to raise his price.

"Take it or leave it, Mikaelson. This isn't a negotiation."

"Fifty bucks and you've got your man, Lockwood."

Tyler conceded and got out fifty dollars from his wallet. He handed it over to Klaus, who snatched it from him and walked away.

* * *

"This is our second tutoring session and you're already giving me a quiz. Harsh much?" Elena asked with a slight laugh as she put down her pen, having completed Stefan's multiple choice quiz. They had met up in the library again for another tutoring session.

Stefan chuckled. "I need to evaluate your current whereabouts so I can help you in the most effective manner."

As Stefan grabbed the quiz and because marking the correct and incorrect answers, Elena got bored. She pulled out her phone to see if she had any new texts.

None.

But she did read through the texts she had been exchanging with Damon.

Elena meant what she had told her friends — she really did like him. But she couldn't do anything about that because of her agreement with Caroline.

Which brought her back to Stefan…

"Have you given any more thought to maybe finding someone to go out with Caroline…?" Elena didn't want to finish that sentence in front of Stefan. She didn't want him to think she was just using him so she could date Damon.

Stefan didn't look up from marking the quiz. "You mean, to get a date for Caroline so you can date my brother?"

Elena laughed; she was apparently more obvious than she realized, even to someone she had just met. "Yea."

Stefan put Elena's partially-marked quiz into his tutoring folder; it was clear that their tutoring session was done for the day. "Actually, I have done some scouting, and I think I found someone who might work out."

Elena's eyes lit up. "Really? Who?"

"His name is Klaus Mikaelson."

"Klaus?!" Elena nearly screeched.

Stefan shushed her, and then whispered to her, "So you know him?"

"Klaus Mikaelson?!" Elena hissed to him in a whisper.

Stefan nodded.

Elena opened her mouth, but no words came out. She closed her mouth, and then reopened it to try again. "Wow! I never would have thought of him."

Elena paused. She didn't know much about Klaus, other than the rumours she'd heard. His family had moved to Mystic Falls maybe five or six years ago; they lived just outside of town and kept mostly to themselves. His father was a rather prominent lawyer and his mother was pleasant enough, whenever Elena had interacted with her, but she knew next to nothing about the Mikaelson children, despite going to school with most of them. There were five Mikaelson children and they were all fairly close in age. "You think he'd be into Caroline?"

"I don't know yet, but I have the plan set in motion to find out. But more importantly — or at least equally importantly — do you think Caroline could be into him?"

Elena thought about that. "I don't know. I've never had much to do with Klaus. I don't think Caroline has either." _Caroline Forbes and Klaus Mikaelson? Caroline and Klaus?!_ "Well, he's not as conventionally good-looking as the guys she is normally attracted to. But maybe?" She shrugged. "I'm not sure; I've never set Caroline up with anyone before."

"I guess we'll find out the answers to both those questions soon enough."

* * *

**A/N: I know, I know; there's no Klaus and Caroline in here yet. I have to set plotlines and things up first. But their interaction is coming. Next chapter, I promise. First thing, even… unless I change something between now and next Friday…**

**Please leave me a review; let me know what you think so far: Are you enjoying it? Do you hate it? Are you annoyed with it? I wanna hear it all!**


	4. Chapter Three: A Constant Presence

Chapter Three – A Constant Presence

* * *

**A/N: Feel free to skip this author's note if you wish; it won't help or hinder your reading experience for "Tensions & Hostilities."**

**I hate to start off on a sour note, but I want to address something and I have no other place to put it except here.**

**I received a somewhat negative review for the last chapter — I say 'somewhat' because, while it was unexpected and did shock me, it wasn't out-right negative or hurtful (and I imagine that it could have been so much worse) — but the review was from a "Guest" so I cannot respond personally to it. (And as anyone who has left a review will hopefully know, I do respond to each review, unless it is sent anonymously.)**

**I know I should be grateful that the review wasn't worse than it actually was or that there was only one review of this nature, but it still threw me for a bit of a loop. I'm bringing attention to it as a benefit to anyone else who might feel the same way or agree with the review.**

**I know I cannot please everyone — I'm not going to try — and I know the choices I've made for this story will alienate or annoy some people, but I will explain some of them.**

**I just wanted to let that Guest reader and reviewer know that the Klaus and Caroline interaction **_is_** coming. That was only Chapter Two of a story with at least ten chapters, so don't worry that the story seems to be more about Elena and Damon than Klaus and Caroline. It's not; hence the tag. I was just setting up the plotlines and backstories. (If this story was to consist of only Klaus and Caroline, I wouldn't have introduced other characters at all.)**

**Once they start interacting, Klaus and Caroline will definitely take centre focus.**

**As for the re-purposing of dialogue from TVD (as in attributing dialogue from the show to another character in my story), I never promised that I would **_not_** do that, but I apologize if that bothered anyone.**

**On that note, please accept this as your fair warning: there are certain lines — I'm referring to ones specifically in Chapter Four, but there may be others — where I have done this re-allocation. I will not apologize for it. (For example, in Chapter Four, I've given a Damon line to Tyler (I hope you will see some similarities, regarding Caroline, with Damon from season one and Tyler in this story — as in, being mean to Caroline and not appreciating her in the slightest.), and later on in that same chapter I've changed the dialogue from a Matt-and-Caroline-scene on the show into the dialogue for a Klaus-and-Caroline-scene in my story. I feel these changes work and they fit my story plot and characters.)**

**I apologize for this rant, and for its length.**

**And now, as promised, here is the first interaction between Klaus and Caroline.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Klaus sat on the bleachers after school. The football team was practicing, and despite all the noise they were making — whistle-blowing and grunting sounds — Klaus's attention was focused on the sidelines of the field, where the cheerleaders were having their practice.

She stood out for him completely. Not because she was blonde — there were several blonde cheerleaders, including his own sister — not because she had been previously pointed out to him, and not because she was the captain. She was in a league all her own because she was positively radiant.

Even when he didn't try, Klaus couldn't take his eyes away from Caroline. She was obviously beautiful and she appeared to be truly in her element as the leader of the cheer squad. Or at least, as far as he could tell, considering he knew nothing about cheerleading.

But she was **too** good. She drew in all the attention to herself. She wasn't trying to, even Klaus could tell that. But he was unable to look away. He didn't even spare a glance to his own sister, Rebekah, a sophomore, who was also on the cheer squad.

"Okay," Caroline told the other cheerleaders once they finished that particular routine. "Not bad, girls. But we still have a lot of work to do. That's all for today."

As Caroline walked to her bag and bent down to find her water bottle, Klaus leapt from his spot on the bleachers and walked up to her.

"Hello," he said, catching her attention. "And how are you today?" he asked with a charming smile.

She stood and scoffed silently at him.

_Great, another creeper coming to ogle the cheerleaders._

"I'm sweating horribly, actually. And yourself?"

"Wow. Utter honesty. How refreshing. Now there's a way to win over a man."

She picked up her gym bag. "Yes, my mission in life. But I appear to have struck your fancy, so oh my gosh," she said, tilting her head to the side and suddenly playing up the dumb blonde act, "I guess the plan worked."

Caroline began to walk away. Klaus easily fell into step beside her.

"Can I help you with something?" she asked in an exasperated tone.

"Yes. Let's go out tonight."

"Oh, right. Yea, sure," she responded with an eye roll as she walked faster to get further away.

"You could take a chance."

Caroline halted her steps and turned to stare at him. "Seriously? You're seriously asking me out? Do you even know my name?"

"I know a lot more than you think."

She scoffed again, audibly this time. "Oh, doubtful. Very doubtful." And before Klaus could respond again, Caroline quickly turned again and walked away, leaving him standing alone.

He grinned to himself, glad that she wasn't going to make this **too** easy for him. He did so love the chase.

* * *

Stefan had been sitting at the opposite end of the bleachers from where Klaus was. He watched the football team's practice while Klaus was still sitting.

Stefan decided that he wanted to inquire about joining the football team. Football was the one thing — possibly the only thing aside from his friend Lexi — that he actually missed about his old school. He wasn't the greatest player, but he was good. And he loved the sport.

And the Mystic High Timberwolves could definitely use any help that came their way, if their practice was any indication.

But once Klaus stood and left the bleachers, Stefan watched his interaction with Caroline. It didn't start out well; Caroline spent the entire time trying to walk away from Klaus. And eventually she did succeed in walking away, leaving Klaus to watch her retreating form. But this interaction did confirm one thing for Stefan. He looked out over the football field and caught Matt's eye.

_He took the bait. Klaus is in; he's a part of this deal._

* * *

Klaus gave Caroline the weekend to reconsider going out with him. He saw her Monday around school, but they never spoke.

On Tuesday, he changed that.

He found Caroline at her locker, but she wasn't alone; she was chatting with her friend and he didn't want to interrupt — that didn't seem like an act that would score him any points in regards to her favour. He ducked into the doorway of a nearby classroom. He was out of sight, but he could still hear them — that way, he would know when Caroline was alone.

He heard her friend speak. "Explain to me again why you never go to the dances and parties that you so meticulously plan."

"Exactly, Bon! 'Meticulously.' I meticulously plan these events to include or think of every last, tiny detail. And while I'm planning, I'm imagining these grand and wonderful moments happening — you know, the ridiculously cheesy, sweep-you-off-your-feet romantic gestures made by some unknown someone."

Caroline let out a soft sigh before continuing. "But obviously these moments will never come to fruition. I set myself up for utter disappointment. So I don't go, therefore avoiding that downfall and disenchantment."

"But aren't you even a little curious about what happens at one of your dances?"

"Nope. Because what happens in my mind is **so** much better than any reality could ever be."

Klaus chuckled softly, but he wasn't sure if he was amused by her determination or the level of her disillusionment.

Caroline's friend left her shortly thereafter, heading to class. As Caroline grabbed her books from her locker, Klaus appeared at her side with a knowing smirk on his face.

"Hello."

She ignored him.

"You hate me, don't you?"

"I don't really think you warrant that strong of an emotion," she replied as she grabbed her pencil case.

"Then say you'll spend the evening with me at the Grill."

"And why would I ever want to do that?" Caroline wasn't even looking at him as she grabbed her notebook from the top shelf in her locker.

"Come on — we'll have something to eat, down a few shots, shoot some pool…."

"Wow! What a night!" Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

Klaus ignored her mockery. "So how's seven-thirty, then?"

Caroline slammed her locker shut and walked away from him. She wouldn't dignify that with a response.

She went to class, only to realize it was English, which meant Klaus was in that class too.

_Ugh, great!_

Caroline sat in her usual spot, and Klaus sat directly behind her. She was thankful for this, because at least that meant she wouldn't have to see him.

"Hello, again."

She turned around in her seat to face him. "Seriously? Do you have to sit **there**?" She gestured to the top of the desk he was sitting at.

Klaus shrugged. "I usually sit in the back anyway; this seat just has a much better view." As he spoke, he raked his eyes up and down Caroline's torso.

She scoffed, trying not to feel self-conscious under his gaze. "Whatever," she said as she turned back to face the front of the classroom.

But the oddest thing happened during class. Even though Caroline couldn't see Klaus, she was hyper aware of him. Every time he shifted in his seat, she focused in on the sound of his movement. She heard every scratch of his pencil against the paper.

It was unbelievably annoying.

When the class ended, Caroline grabbed her things and tried to rush out of the classroom as quickly as possible. But as soon as she stood, Klaus was right there, standing close to her, invading her personal space.

"You're not much of a talker, are you?"

"Depends on the subject. But seriously, any subject initiated by the guy who has recently turned to stalking me will not **ever** make me particularly loquacious." Caroline pushed past Klaus and walked away.

She was nearly out of the classroom when she heard Klaus's voice.

"You're not afraid of me?"

She whirled around to face him. He hadn't moved from near her seat and Caroline noticed that they were the only two people left in the classroom. "Why would I be afraid of you?"

"Most people are."

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but I'm not." Caroline turned and continued walking out of the classroom. She rolled her eyes when Klaus easily caught up to her and fell in step next to her.

"So have a drink with me. Coffee, whiskey, whatever you wish."

She stopped walking again. She glared at him and his smirk as she responded. "No. I'm busy. Now go away." She gave him a fake, sickly-sweet smile before walking away again.

This time, Klaus didn't follow her.

He turned and headed in the opposite direction, stopping only when he reached his own locker. He dumped his books in and sighed.

He shut his locker and found Tyler standing next to him. And Tyler was wearing his angry face.

"When I shell out fifty, I expect results."

Klaus groaned inwardly. "I'm working on it."

"Well, work faster, dude. Taking a little stroll with her for a few feet across the football field doesn't count. Neither does hanging out with her after a class you two have together."

"What are you doing, following us?"

_Who's displaying stalker tendencies now?_

"It's called keeping an eye on my investment. So get to it. By the end of the week."

Tyler started to walk away when he heard Klaus's voice. "I just upped my price."

"You what?" Tyler whirled around. "No."

Klaus nodded. "A hundred bucks per date. In advance."

"Forget it."

Klaus smirked. "Forget her friend, then."

Tyler thought this through for a frustrated moment. He threw his fist into the nearest locker when he realized Klaus had him cornered.

"Damn it!" He pulled out his wallet and, with a menacing scowl, handed another fifty dollars to Klaus. "You'd better hope you're as smooth as you think you are, Mikaelson."

Klaus took the money with a cheesy, sarcastic smile and waited for Tyler to walk away.

* * *

Klaus was sitting in his Biology class when two people suddenly decided to sit at his lab table — two guys who have never sat there before. Some of the other people in class were moving about as well, but no one ever joined him at this lab table. They sat down and they kept taking careful, peaking glances at Klaus.

It wasn't quiet in the classroom; the science teacher had given them time to work on their latest assignment.

Klaus sighed in frustration. "Say it," he said to the two guys at his table. They looked completely terrified.

"Say what?" the one with the blonde hair spoke.

"Whatever it is you came over here to say."

The other guy, the one with the darker spikey hair, swallowed audibly before speaking. "We came to talk with you about the plan."

Klaus chuckled. The idiot all but whispered as he said the words 'the plan.' He rolled his eyes. "What plan?"

"We know that you're working with Tyler Lockwood; we know that he's paying you to date Caroline Forbes."

"Is that so? And what do you plan to do about it?"

"Help you," the blonde one spoke again. "We'll help you with Caroline."

"You're going to help me so Lockwood can get the friend? What are you, his lackeys?"

"No, no, no. We set all this up, but with the intention that my brother can get Elena. Tyler is just a pawn."

Klaus nearly smirked at that; he enjoyed the idea of Tyler Lockwood being a pawn in someone's game. "So you two are going to help me win over the perfectionist, huh? How"

The darker haired one spoke. "Matt here knows Caroline fairly well."

The blonde one nodded. "I've known her my entire life. I can provide insight."

The other one nodded and grinned. "We're your guys."

"And you are…?"

"Stefan Salvatore."

"He's new here."

"Well, obviously." Klaus may not pay attention to most of the people in this school, but he could at least recognize their faces, and he knew that this Stefan did not have a face that he had seen around before.

"And Stefan's brother, Damon, is the one we want Elena to end up with."

"Elena?"

"Caroline's friend."

Klaus rolled his eyes. As if any of this mattered to him.

"And I know of the perfect place to start," the one apparently named Matt said. "Friday night. Duke's holding a party out by the falls." Matt turned to Stefan. "Duke holds a party here every time he comes home from Duke."

"Wait, Duke goes to Duke…?" Stefan tried not to laugh at the absurdity of that.

"Yeah, I know. But there's always tons of beer." He turned back to Klaus. "And the party provides a perfect opportunity."

"The perfect opportunity for what?"

"For you to take out Caroline."

A party? A high school party? These morons thought it would be good for him to take Caroline to a party out by the falls? So far, they were inspiring very little conviction about the level of 'help' they could provide.

"I'll think about it." Klaus had enough of talking to them. He got up and walked out, right in the middle of class.

Stefan and Matt turned to each other while the teacher was still stunned by Klaus's actions.

"And we're in," Matt said, triumphantly.

* * *

Tyler met up with Elena in the hallway just after the last bell rang for the day. "Elena, hey."

"Oh, hi Tyler."

"How's it going?"

Elena raised her eyebrow slightly. She had never had a casual conversation like this with Tyler before. Sometimes their parents shoved them together at town functions, but they never willingly spoke with each other.

She shrugged. "It's fine. I'm actually on my way to the library. I have to study."

"Want some company?"

Elena shook her head. "No thanks. Company would defeat the purpose of studying."

"Yea, you're probably right." When Elena didn't respond, he spoke again. "Are you going to the party this Friday night?"

Elena shook her head slightly. "I didn't know there was a party on Friday."

"Yea. It's a Duke party."

"Oh, great. I hope I can show up." Elena smiled at the idea of going to a party with Damon.

"Me, too." Tyler smiled at her. "It'll be boring without you."

Elena laughed, feeling uneasy. "Thanks, Tyler." She quickly walked away before he could say anymore.

_That was rather awkward, Tyler._

She went straight to the library, where she met up with Stefan for another tutoring session.

Elena didn't even greet him; she simply started with, "Have you heard about Duke's party?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"I'd really like to go. Have you made any progress with the Klaus-and–Caroline thing?"

Stefan sighed quietly, remembering how easy he thought this would be when he first suggested the idea. "I'm working on it. But so far, she hasn't gone for him. I may need your help."

"With what?"

"With understanding Caroline. What does she like? What does she hate? Where does she hang out? I need more insight into her, in order to get her to go out with this guy."

"Okay…" Elena tapped her fingers against the tabletop as she thought. "Where to start…"

* * *

Matt and Stefan approached the door of a dive bar in the town next to Mystic Falls.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Stefan asked, apprehensively.

Mat nodded. "Yea, this is the place."

They tried to walk in, but were stopped by the bouncer.

Klaus was inside, playing pool, when he heard a commotion at the door. He looked up and saw the bouncer about to throw Stefan and Matt out.

"Hey, Lou. It's okay," Klaus told the bouncer. "They're with me."

Lou looked at Klaus, surprised, and then reluctantly let the two enter the bar. They joined Klaus at the pool table; he downed his drink and continued playing pool.

"What do you have for me?" he asked as he lined up his next shot.

Stefan answered. "A little insight into a very complicated woman."

"But I have a question first," Matt said. "Should you be drinking alcohol when you don't have a liver?"

"What?!" Matt asked his question right as Klaus took his shot, so the white ball didn't go anywhere near his target.

"Never mind," Matt said quickly.

"First thing," Stefan said, trying to distract Klaus from Matt's stupid question. "Elena said Caroline goes for pretty guys."

This was met with silence. Klaus looked between Matt and Stefan. They both looked anywhere except at Klaus.

"What?" Klaus raised his arms up at his sides. "You don't think I'm a pretty guy?"

"He's very pretty," Matt said quickly to Stefan. "He's attractive. He's a gorgeous guy."

"I wasn't sure," Stefan said. "I didn't know." He pulled a piece of paper out of his jacket pocket to change the mood. "Okay, likes: popular current music, reality television, and Italian food."

When Stefan didn't continue reading from his 'list,' Klaus suspected those three things were the only items on said list.

_Great help you two are._

"So what does that give me? I'm supposed to buy her some pasta and something from the Top 40 and then, what, sit around watching some random guy date ten or twenty women?"

_Pass._

"Well, there's that," Matt said. "Or there is another option. She has plans with Bonnie and Elena tomorrow night. You could show up there."

"Where?"

Matt and Stefan exchanged an apprehensive glance before answering Klaus's question.

* * *

Caroline, Bonnie, and Elena spent Thursday evening together having a girls' night at Caroline's house. The Forbes house was always the ideal hang-out spot because Caroline's mother was never home; they always had all the privacy they wanted.

Not that the girls were doing anything that required privacy. Tonight they were getting ready to go to the Grill. Once they were done there, they planned to return to the Forbes house to give each other manicures and pedicures.

"That was my mom," Elena said as she hung up her phone. "She wants us to have fun, but she reminds us that tonight **is** a school night, so we had better not stay out too late."

Bonnie laughed as she touched up her makeup. Caroline merely smiled as she did her hair; she loved Mrs Gilbert, but it sadden her just a bit to think that her own mother would never touch in with Caroline or her friends like that.

Elena eyed Caroline as she used the curling iron.

"Sometimes, I'm incredibly jealous of your blonde hair, Care."

"What?" she asked with a scoff. "You have beautiful, pin-straight chocolate hair. Why would you want my unruly curls?"

She played it off as cool, but Caroline was more stunned than she let on. She had spent much of her life being second choice; everyone always preferred the perfect Elena to the mess-up that was Caroline. Caroline had been friends with Matt Donovan and Elena since they were all quite young children, yet even though Caroline had a big crush on him, it was Elena that he asked out. And even Bonnie chose Elena first; it was always Elena and Bonnie before anything ever became Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline. Always. She was the constant third wheel.

(This stupid 'deal' thing was the first time there has been a Caroline and Elena thing that didn't involve Bonnie.)

Caroline was even second choice to her parents. They didn't choose Elena over her, but they did each choose something else instead of putting their daughter first — Liz threw herself into her career and Bill chose a different life altogether, complete with a different family.

No one ever put Caroline first.

But she tried to be worth of being first; oh gosh, did she try. She defied her dumb blonde stereotype by working hard to become a straight-A honour student and she was captain of the cheer squad, reigning Miss Mystic Falls, and the head of several volunteer and planning committees not just at school, but around the town as well.

But that never mattered to anyone.

They still saw perfection personified in Elena Gilbert.

"Your hair is not unruly, Care," Elena said as she watched Caroline wrap a strand of golden hair around the barrel of the curling iron. "You tame it very well."

"As you do with everything in your life," Bonnie added.

"What does that mean?"

"Just that you always have everything under control. Nothing goes against Caroline Forbes and lives to tell the tale."

Caroline put the hand that wasn't wielding the curling iron onto her hip. "Is that how you see me?"

"That's how everyone sees you. But you could let up a little. Sometimes it does come off as hostile."

"Hostile? I'm not hostile." Caroline shrugged. "I simply know what I want."

Once everyone was ready, Caroline drove them all to the Grill.

Elena spoke up from the back seat. "There's a big party tomorrow night." She was trying to bring the subject up subtly.

"Really?" Bonnie asked. "I hadn't heard about it. Who's throwing it?"

"It's a Duke party, out by the falls."

"Ewh. I'll pass," Caroline said quickly. A Duke party was not something she wanted to attend.

Elena's face fell. If Caroline said 'no' so quickly, there was no way she could ever change her friend's mind. She remained relatively silent for the rest of the quick car ride.

Caroline saw Elena's crestfallen expression in her rear-view mirror. She hated when Elena was sad, but she hated a Duke party even more.

Once Caroline pulled into a parking space at the Grill and turned off her car, she turned in her seat to face both of her friends. "Who's ready for some karaoke fun?" she asked in her sing-songy way as she lightly clapped her hands together. She was excited to spend some time with her best friends, and what was better than karaoke?

* * *

Klaus's truck pulled up into the Grill's parking lot just as Bonnie finished singing her first song for karaoke night. Caroline had gone first — her enthusiasm and excitement was nearly palpable. Elena opted to go second — not right after Caroline; they let some other patrons at the Grill participate as well — in an attempt to boost her own spirits after learning that Caroline didn't want to go to Duke's party.

Now that Bonnie had sung, they had fulfilled their agreement: they all had to perform at least once.

But Caroline was excited and wanted to sing again.

"How about a group number?" she asked.

Elena scrunched her nose. "No thanks, Care." Caroline had a beautiful voice, but hers and Bonnie's, not so much. Elena did her friendship duty and performed once; that was her limit.

Bonnie shook her head no as well.

"Fine," Caroline said. "I'll go again. By myself." She smiled at them, letting them know that she was mocking them and being dramatic. Then went up to the stage and chose her song.

She had just finished singing the first verse when Klaus entered the Grill. She didn't see him, and he didn't see her.

He nodded to the bartender as he entered.

"Woah, Mikaelson," the bartender exclaimed. "I never thought I'd see you here on karaoke night."

"Yea, I know. It's not my kind of thing."

"So what brings you by?"

He didn't really want to explain himself — nor did he need to — so he kept his explanation short. "Someone I'm into likes this sort of thing."

The bartender nodded. "Here's a drink to start you off. On the house."

Klaus gladly accepted it.

It was only as he raised the glass to his lips that he realized someone was singing.

_Not too bad of a voice. But such a bloody awful song._

He had expected tone-deaf, pitchy screeches when he learned that Caroline and her friends were planning to attend the Grill's karaoke night. This was actually pleasantly surprising to him.

He turned around to lean against the bar and faced the stage. That's when he saw her.

It was Caroline's beautiful voice he was hearing.

He watched her sing, smiling at her joy and her obviously bubbly disposition.

Caroline looked positively radiant. She was gleeful; she looked completely at ease and at home up there on the stage. She had none of her usual 'attitude.' Klaus found himself transfixed by her. And he was most definitely attracted to her.

The harder he stared at her, the more he decided he liked her. She had spirit and a bright fire burning within her.

She finished her song, to a smattering of applause, and returned to her table. Klaus only noticed then that her friends were with her. He knew they would be, but he had been so transfixed with Caroline that he hadn't noticed anyone else.

He sat himself down at the end of the bar, sparing casual glances in Caroline's direction all evening.

Her blonde hair seemed to glow under the regular house lights at the Grill, so he noticed when her golden locks moved more than what was normal for regular conversation with her friends.

Caroline stood. "I'm thirsty. Do you want anything?" she asked her friends.

Elena nodded and Bonnie said, "Yes, please."

Caroline made it to the bar and orders three waters; she couldn't order anything stronger, being the sheriff's daughter an all — the entire town knew she and her friends were underage. The joys of a small town.

_Ugh_!

While she waited, she looked around and spotted Klaus sitting at the bar a few feet away from where she was standing.

"Shit," Caroline said to herself.

She snuck another glance at Klaus. He was staring at her, but he looked away right as she glanced over at him. She scowled as the bartender handed the three bottles of water to her. She grabbed them and marched over to Klaus's seat, forgetting to pay for them.

"You're not fooling anyone."

Klaus looked up at her with a surprised look on his face. "Hello, love."

"Seriously, what are you, some kind of stalker?"

He sighed internally. "Come now. 'Stalker' seems a bit unfair."

She rolled her eyes. "If you're planning on asking me out again, can you please get it over with so I can go back to my friends and enjoy the rest of the night."

"Excuse me?"

"That's why you're here, right?"

"I'm just here for a drink and the atmosphere." He gestured to the 'atmosphere' around him. "And you're sort of ruining it for me."

Caroline wasn't sure how to respond. Klaus resumed his lean against the bar, making no attempt to hit on her. It caught her by surprise; she knew how to evade or turn down his advances, but she didn't know what to do when he wasn't openly flirting with her.

She stepped closer to him. "You don't seem like the karaoke type."

He shrugged. "I'm not. That's why I'm back here and not vying for a chance to get up on that stage." Klaus locked his gaze with hers. "But you were wonderful, love."

Caroline was completely taken aback.

_Had he really heard her sing?_

Klaus used the moment to his advantage. He stood and stepped into her; there was only a breath of space between them. He raised his hand and brushed some of her hair back behind her ear.

He leaned in and spoke into her ear. "I watched you up there. I've never seen you look so sexy." Caroline could feel his stubble graze her cheek.

She stepped away, trying to hide the blush that was slowly creeping into her cheeks.

He flashed her his cocky smile. "Come to that party with me tomorrow."

Caroline was having a problem forming a coherent thought. "What?"

The bartender approached them. "You forgot to pay," he said to Caroline.

"I got it," Klaus offered as he tossed some bills on the bar.

Caroline just watched, trying to figure out what his motive was.

Klaus turned back to face her. "Come on. Take a chance, Caroline. I dare you."

Caroline narrowed her eyes at him. "You never give up, do you?" She tried to sound dismissive, but she had to admit to herself that she was intrigued by him. It was as if he knew exactly how to push her buttons. And which buttons to press. She scoffed and rolled her eyes as she took a step back, creating more distance between them.

"Was that a yes?"

"No." Caroline turned and began walking back to her friends.

"Well then, was that a no?"

"No," she called over her shoulder.

He had to raise his voice now. "I'll see you at 9 o'clock, Caroline."

She merely waved her hand in his direction as she walked away. She gave him one last glance before she slipped into the crowd and made her way back to Elena and Bonnie.

Klaus smiled before bringing the glass up to his lips; she hadn't said 'no' this time.

* * *

When Caroline returned to the table, Elena leaned over to speak with her. "Who were you talking to, Care?"

Truthfully, Elena had been watching Caroline very intently since she left the table; she had told Stefan about their plans to come here tonight, so it seemed likely that Klaus would show up too.

"Ugh," Caroline groaned. "Klaus Mikaelson."

"Really?" Bonnie spoke up. "He's here?" Bonnie craned her neck, looking around for him. When she couldn't spot him, she turned back to her friends. "He was gone from school for nearly the whole year last year. I heard he was doing porn movies."

Elena laughed; she hadn't heard that rumour before.

Caroline scoffed. "I'm sure he's completely incapable of doing anything that interesting."


	5. Chapter Four: The First Outing

Chapter Four – The First Outing

* * *

Elena was going out on a limb; she knew that. She knew it was a big risk, and she also knew that she was far more likely to fail than to find success, but she had to try. She brought Bonnie along with her, as backup. And together, the two of them drove over to Caroline's house on Friday night.

Caroline answered their knock on her front door with a smile. "Hey."

"Hi, Care."

Bonnie smiled at her friend but said nothing; she was letting Elena do all the talking, since this was her idea. Bonnie wasn't even going to the party anyway.

Elena toed the porch as she spoke. "We were just wondering if you were going to the party tonight."

Caroline scoffed and repressed an eye roll. _This, again?_ "No. Duke is a major jerk. This party is just a stupid excuse for him to hit on high school girls because he can't get college girls. And it's an excuse for the rest of us to get free, unlimited access to beer. Everyone will be drunk and touchy and making out. No thanks."

Elena's face fell and she wouldn't look up from her feet.

"Is that the only reason you came over?" Caroline asked. "To see if I changed my mind about this party?"

Elena gave a reluctant nod. "I was hoping you had reconsidered."

Caroline kind of felt bad for upsetting her friend, but she refused to be forced into going somewhere that she did not want to go. "Well, I haven't. I have to start studying for my math test."

"On a Friday night?"

Caroline put on a fake smile and held her head high; she knew how lame her Friday night plans sounded. "No time like the present." Her smile faded as she said good night to her friends. "I'll talk to you guys later."

Caroline shut the door and Elena stepped back and turned to face Bonnie.

Bonnie sighed. "She's obviously not going."

"Guess I'm not either," Elena said, dejectedly.

"She isn't wrong, you know. The party will be alcohol-filled and chaotic. And Duke really is a jerk." Bonnie said these things partially in an attempt to cheer Elena up, and partially because they were all very true.

"Are you and Jeremy going?"

Bonnie shook her head. "We're gonna stay in and watch movies. You're welcome to join us."

"Watch movies with my brother and his girlfriend, who happens to be my best friend?" Elena laughed. "No thanks, Bon. I'll stick to my agreement with Caroline and maybe do some school-related work."

* * *

Only a few minutes had passed since Caroline had closed her door to Elena and Bonnie when she heard another knock on her door.

"Seriously?" Caroline muttered to herself as she walked to the door. "Was my previous answer not definitive enough?"

She flung open the door and instead of seeing Elena and Bonnie again, or even just Elena, there stood Klaus.

"What are you doing here?"

He smiled at her, despite her rather rude greeting, and stood still, with his hands clasped behind his back; the shock of him showing up was plainly obvious on her face. "Just your friendly, neighbourhood stalker checking in on you this evening."

Caroline didn't respond right away, but sensed that he was waiting for a reply. "Is that some kind of British humour I don't understand?"

He chuckled. "We agreed upon nine o'clock, did we not? Last night, at karaoke."

Caroline was too stunned to respond.

He shrugged. "I'm early."

He gave her a bright smile as those blue eyes glittered with joy. It almost made her feel guilty for being such an ass to the one person that seemed to be the most patient with her. _Almost_.

"Fine," she said, reluctantly, as she regained her senses. Yes, she hadn't actually agreed when he suggested nine o'clock, but she hadn't disagreed either. And he was here, right now, after all. And actually on time. "I'm driving." She looked down at the clothes she was wearing, satisfied. Her everyday, regular ensemble was good enough for one of Duke's parties out by the falls. She grabbed her coat, phone, and keys before leaving the house.

Klaus was perfectly fine with Caroline driving; the inside of his truck wasn't fit to be seen by her — if he wasn't in class, sleeping, or, as of recently, spending time with Caroline, he spent his time inside his truck. He did whatever he could to avoid going home, and because of his reputation, most business managers in town didn't appreciate him loitering about their establishments.

Caroline sent a text to Elena as she walked to her car: "_Changed my mind. Going to the party. Meet you there?_"

Elena's response came almost immediately. "_Absolutely! Thank you, Care!_"

* * *

Caroline pulled into the make-shift parking lot and quickly got out of her car. She didn't want to be in such a confined space with Klaus for one moment longer.

She immediately saw Duke, standing on the invisible boundary between the parking area and the party area. He was greeting everyone who was attending: he gave handshakes and back claps to the guys, and hugs and creepy/inappropriate touches to the girls.

Caroline shuddered. Klaus noticed her apprehension as he rounded the front of her car.

"This way, love," he said. He put his hand on her lower back and led away from Duke the jerk. Caroline noted that his touch was neither creepy nor inappropriate feeling; it had an oddly soothing effect. They walked past some cars, around a couple of large trees, and entered the party area away from Duke's watchful/pervy gaze.

_Thank goodness_.

It seemed as if at least half of the school's population was now in this area near the falls. This was the normal tradition for a party in Mystic Falls: a bonfire, lots of alcohol, and the possibility of a one night stand. All of the people Caroline had known since childhood were drinking and laughing away by the firelight, the distant pounding of the water creating a dull roar in the background.

Caroline pushed her way through the crowd, looking for Elena and seeing who else was there. Klaus didn't follow her; he stayed on the edge of the partiers.

She made her way across the crowd and came across the gathering of jocks. Right in the centre was Tyler. He was downing shots in between mouthfuls of beer amid the whooping and hollering of the jocks surrounding him.

She immediately tried to turn around and leave the area, but Tyler saw her. He rushed over and blocked her departure.

"Looking good tonight, Care Bear."

Caroline scoffed and crossed her arms against her chest. "You'd better watch your alcohol." She glanced down at his stomach briefly before returning her eyes to his face. "You're starting to get a beer belly, Tyler. And I don't mean a six-pack."

Tyler dropped his beer cup and placed his hands on his stomach. Caroline rolled her eyes at his cluelessness and vanity and used his distraction to get away from him. She was successful this time.

Caroline went back to the near-centre and got a cup of beer. She sipped it slowly as she said hi to some of her classmates and friends. She had just finished the beer when she spotted Elena coming towards her.

"Care, hi!" Elena pulled her in for a quick hug. "Thank you **so** much for changing your mind."

Caroline shrugged after she pulled away from the hug. She wasn't going to tell Elena that Klaus stopped by and that's the real reason why she was here at the party.

Right as she thought about him, Caroline caught Klaus's eye from where he stood near the tree-lined edge of the party. She noticed that he didn't have a beer in his hand. He smiled at her and Caroline found herself smiling back at him before looking away.

She refocused on Elena again. "Did you get groped by Duke on your way in?"

Elena shivered in disgust. "Yes. Super creepy hug."

Caroline noticed Elena's empty hands. "Do you want a beer?" Caroline's question caused Elena to stop craning her neck as she looked around at the other partiers.

"Yea. Where's the keg?"

"I'll get you one," Caroline offered. "You can stay here and look for Damon." She smirked.

Elena grimaced slightly. "Am I that obvious?"

Caroline shook her head. "Only to your best friend."

Caroline weaved her way to the keg area and filled another cup with beer. She only filled one; she decided against getting a second one for herself so quickly after her first.

She was halfway back to where she left Elena when she caught sight of her friend. Only, Elena wasn't alone. But she wasn't with Damon Salvatore, either.

Caroline felt her blood boil beneath her skin when she saw Tyler lean in and whisper into Elena's ear.

Elena smiled and pulled back slightly.

Caroline stomped over to them. "Leave her alone, Tyler."

"Now why would I do that?" Tyler asked as he put his arm around Elena.

Elena shrugged Tyler's arm off of her shoulders and stepped away from him. Caroline took half a step forward and threw her nearly-full cup of beer in Tyler's face. A few people around them gasped in shock. Tyler looked furious.

"Leave us alone, or you will have more to worry about than being covered in beer."

Tyler walked away. Elena seemed upset. "Caroline, what the hell!"

"How could you, Elena? Tyler, of all people! Seriously!"

"He's my friend, Care. So what, because you dated him and it didn't work out, I now have to stop being friends with him?"

They were both yelling now. The partiers around them were turning to pay attention to the argument. Some of the guys were probably anxiously anticipating a cat fight.

" 'Didn't work out'? 'Didn't work out'?! You have no idea what you're talking about, Elena."

"Maybe I would if you would just open up and tell me!"

Caroline moved to take a step closer to her friend when Klaus appeared at her side. "Easy, love," he said to Caroline. "You're making a scene."

Elena glared at Caroline and walked away.

"How did **I** become the bad guy?" Caroline asked absentmindedly.

Before Klaus could respond, Caroline turned away. At that exact moment, a guy walked by with a collection of shots and offered one to Caroline. She took it and downed it immediately. He handed her another two shots, which she gladly accepted. "Drink up, sister!"

Caroline downed the second one as Klaus spoke to her. "What's this?" He gestured to the two shot glasses in her hands, one empty and one full.

"I'm just drinking. Isn't that the point of these parties?"

"Pace yourself, sweetheart. Let me have this one." He reached for the one that still contained alcohol, but she stepped back.

"No way," Caroline said. "This one's mine." And she pushed through the crowd, moving away from Klaus.

* * *

Since Caroline threw the contents of the beer onto Tyler, Elena had to get her own beer. She slowly made her way to the centre of the party, scanning the people as she walked by. She wouldn't even try to deny it; she was looking for Damon.

After receiving Caroline's text, Elena had immediately texted Damon to tell him of her change of plans.

"He should be here by now," she said to herself as she grabbed a cup of beer. She wondered if she should get two, but decided against double fisting. Just in case he didn't show up. But hopefully he would make an appearance. And soon.

She took a drink from her beer cup, hoping to numb or evade her feelings of doubt and insecurity. And impatience.

She turned around to walk through the party again and nearly collided with the person standing behind her. She took a step back out of shock. That was when she saw who she almost collided with, and she felt a huge smile come onto her face.

"Damon."

"Sorry for running late." His apology was accompanied by a sheepish grin. "I had to wait for Stefan to finish his endless journaling and then shape his hair for this party." He rolled his eyes as he remembered his brother's actions and preparations.

Elena laughed. "It doesn't matter; you're here now. But we do have to stop meeting up with this — you know, literally bumping into each other."

"We do have that tendency, it seems."

"Yea, except this time, I'm the one holding the cup." Elena lifted her beer cup up slightly to emphasize its existence.

Damon glanced at it quickly before returning his gaze to Elena's. "Then I'm very glad I didn't spill your beer on you."

"That would have been disastrous."

"As well as a terrible start and a quick end to our evening."

Elena smiled. "Wouldn't want that."

Damon looked around their immediate area. "So, do I get to meet the friends I have heard so much about? Bonnie and Caroline."

Elena groaned slightly. "No. Bonnie isn't here; she's having a night in watching movies with Jeremy."

"Your brother and her boyfriend?" Damon's question wasn't really a question — Elena had already filled him in on all the details of her life — but he phrased it like a question to show that he remembered.

"Yes. And Caroline is here, but we just had a big fight, so I won't be introducing you to her."

"Too bad," Damon said. "I wanted to thank the person who made it possible for you to be here without ruining your friendship with her forever. Perhaps another time."

Elena nodded. "Tell me about your told town." She wanted to change the focus of their conversation from her now obviously foolish deal with Caroline to something more interesting.

"What's to tell?" Damon said with a shrug. "It was a small town, not unlike this one."

When he didn't offer any more information, Elena pushed. "What were you like?"

"Exactly as I am now. I haven't changed my awesomeness." They began walking away from the main party area, chatting as they moved.

Elena giggled. "You know what I mean. What did you do, who did you hang out with?"

"Oh!" He smirked, feigning finally understanding the direction she wanted to take this conversation. "I don't know. I hung out with almost everyone, at some point."

"So you were Mr Popularity?" Elena asked with a laugh.

"Oh, definitely!"

"Were you a jock?"

Damon shook his head; he tried to avoid classifying himself. "No, but I did play football."

"Were you any good?"

"I was great! Starting lineup." The pride was evident on his face.

Elena nodded as they reached a wooden bridge. "Didn't Stefan join the team here? Why don't you?"

"Organized high school sports really aren't my thing anymore."

"So what **is** your thing now?"

"Getting to know you," he said with a smirk and a wink, fully owning up to how cheesy that line was.

Elena laughed and lightly shoved his shoulder.

"Or are you afraid that everyone will think Stefan is the better player in your family?"

"Please," he scoffed. He stopped walking; Elena stopped, too, and turned to face him. "He wishes. I taught Stef all he knows about the game. But," he paused, being dramatic, and leaning forward against the railing on the bridge, "not all I know."

Elena laughed and touched Damon's arm lightly and she leaned against the railing too.

Tyler stood a few feet away, still in the party area. But from where he was standing, he had a clear view of Damon and Elena. And he was pissed. There was no way he was going to lose his chance to sleep with Elena because of some new guy.

Tyler looked around and saw Klaus standing nearby. He stormed over to Klaus and grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Dude! It's about time."

Klaus didn't respond. He was trying to ignore Tyler, but it was challenging when the guy was right in his face.

"How'd you do it?"

"Do what?" Klaus asked reluctantly, wanting to be anywhere but here.

"Get her to show up and, I don't know, act normal."

Klaus shoved Tyler off and walked away from him.

Tyler was in such a good mood, despite the obvious flirting he had just witnessed between Elena and the stupid new guy — he had spent some quality time flirting with Elena before that loser had arrived at this party — that he didn't even mind too much that his ex-girlfriend had thrown a beer at him. It was a warm night and his dark shirt didn't show the stain.

But when he saw Caroline a few moments later, standing alone, he just had to confront her about it.

"That was a bold move, Care, throwing your beer on me."

"And I'd gladly do it again. Leave Elena alone."

"Yea, sure. Whatever you say." He raised both his hands up in the air, feigning the innocent he certainly didn't have. "But I can't guarantee that she'll stay away from me."

"She will if I tell her to."

Was Caroline Forbes threatening Tyler Lockwood?

_Oh, hell no!_

"But you won't. Little Caroline Forbes's word against the mighty and incredible Tyler Lockwood's? No one will believe you. And you wanna know why? Because you're stupid. And shallow. And useless. Just another throw-away dumb blonde." He stepped even closer to her, making sure she could see the truth of his words in his eyes. "You're an insecure, neurotic, bitchy little twit. Don't forget it."

He smirked at the hurt look on her face before he walked away. She may have thrown the contents of a beer cup at him, but he got the last word. And he got his way.

He always did.

Caroline walked away from the area where she had her third unwanted encounter with Tyler. She was downing shots and mouthfuls of beer as fast as she could grab them.

She found Klaus not too long after. He was near the edge of the party area, sitting on a horizontal tree trunk. He still didn't have a drink in his hand — he hadn't touched the stuff all evening, but Caroline had no way of knowing that. He stayed sober to keep an eye on her; he could tell she was spiraling and he wanted to make sure she made it home safely.

He immediately recognized the smell of cheap alcohol that was emanating off of Caroline as she walked closer to him. He clenched his jaw as flashes of his father came to his mind; he always drank when he was angry, and he always seemed to be angry. Klaus hated alcohol — well, the cheap stuff that his school mates were currently indulging in; the only alcohol he could stand to drink was whiskey because it was the one drink his father detested.

She sat down next to him.

"Am I shallow?"

He masked the thoughts of his father with a sly smirk — not that Caroline would have noticed; she was far too drunk. "I don't know, love. This sounds like a trick question. I hardly know you."

"Then why have you been so persistent in asking me out?"

He shrugged, buying himself some time to come up with a decent answer. Again, not that Caroline would have noticed because of her intoxication level. "I'm fascinated by you."

She laughed at his answer — she wasn't sure why it was funny, but it made her laugh — and he laughed, too. It was then that she noticed how amazing his smile was and how he had an addictive laugh; it made her laugh even harder. He didn't seem to share either of these traits very often with people.

"I don't mean to be. Shallow. I wanna be deep. I wanna be like, the abyss deep."

Klaus shifted slightly, turning to face Caroline more directly as he spoke. "Perhaps deep isn't your thing; there's nothing wrong with that."

"But if it's not my 'thing,' then I **am** just shallow. I'm worse than shallow. I'm like a kiddie pool."

She made a sound that was caught somewhere between a laugh and a sob. But she refused to cry any more tears regarding Tyler Lockwood — unless they were tears caused by laughing too hard — so she quickly changed to just laughing. She laughed at herself and her situation. She threw her head back as she laughed harder, but the motion sent her further back on the tree trunk than her centre of gravity was prepared to handle. She slipped backwards off the tree trunk, hit her head on a nearby tree, and landed butt-first on the ground with her feet still slightly hanging over the tree trunk.

"Ow," Caroline said as she struggled to sit back up. "Good thing I'm not wearing a dress."

Klaus grabbed her arm and pulled her up until she was sitting again. "Or a skirt."

"Ha ha. That's true." She rubbed the newly-formed sore spot at the back of her head.

"Are you okay?"

Caroline waved a hand at him. "I'm fine. I'm…" As she tried to shake his hand off her arm, she slipped backwards again. Her other hand, the one that wasn't attached to the arm he was currently holding, shot out and grabbed onto his jacket, pulling herself closer to him.

"You are clearly not okay."

Caroline caught Klaus's gaze and stopped breathing for that moment.

Then she dropped his gaze, let go of his jacket, and grabbed her head. "I think I need to lie down for a while."

"Sorry, love. I can't let you lie down; you'll go to sleep."

"I know. Sleep is good."

She tried to lie down on the horizontal tree trunk, but Klaus pulled her to her feet. "You need to stay conscious. You may have a concussion after hitting your head. Let's take a walk." He started leading her towards the parking area.

Caroline leaned into his side as they shuffled along. "Like you'd care if I died."

"I would care."

"Why?" She began rubbing the sore spot on her head again.

"Because then I'd have to start taking out girls who actually like me."

She looked up at him with a slight glare. "As if you could find one."

"See that? There. Who needs affection when I have blind hatred?"

The glare suddenly faded from Caroline's face as she stopped walking and stopped allowing him to lead her along. The movement of walking was making her stomach churn. "Just let me sit down."

They had reached the parking area by this time, so Klaus helped Caroline sit on the hood of the nearest car. Good thing no one in small towns ever installs car alarms.

"How's that?"

Caroline smiled and looked up at him. "I feel like an idiot."

"Why do you let him get to you?"

"Who?"

"Lockwood." Klaus turned and leaned against the car's hood, right next to her.

He saw the look that formed on her face whenever she saw Tyler Lockwood, or whenever his name was mentioned.

He wasn't good at comfort. He didn't offer soothing words or sage advice. He had learnt that showing emotions — especially ones like compassion — were weaknesses, ones he couldn't risk suffering anymore. But as he saw that look form in that moment on her face — a look caught somewhere between hurt and loathing, with maybe even a little fear mixed in — he wanted nothing more than to be able to offer just that to her.

Caroline scoffed, looking straight ahead as she spoke and not at Klaus. "I hate him."

"I've noticed. But I think throwing beer on him will only make things worse, sweetheart; he'll probably just absorb the alcohol into his system through his skin and clothing, making him even more of a colossal ass than he currently is."

"Oh," Caroline said, thinking about what Klaus had said. "I never thought about that…" She sighed and turned to face him. "You're right; he **is** a colossal ass."

"I know. But I don't think you getting drunk will affect him in any way."

She half-shrugged in her drunken way as she turned to look to the trees in front of them. "I was trying to be cool and laid back."

"I would have guessed you were better than this."

"When in Rome…"

"I never pegged you as the need-to-fit-in type."

She let out a non-humourous 'ha' at that. "I'm the head cheerleader — isn't it in my job description to be desperate for popularity and attention?"

"I imagine that job description merely requires you to be cheerful. And perhaps flexible." He winked at that last part.

"Oh, so now you think you know me?"

"I'm only beginning to."

Caroline scoffed. "The only thing people know about me is that I'm a snobby perfectionist who needs to control every little thing."

Klaus turned and looked at her — he really looked at her. "Well, I'm not exactly a picnic either."

Caroline looked back at him and realized that they both hid behind a façade.

She tore her eyes away from him to look down at the ground. She laughed, and suddenly, her head was spinning and pounding insanely.

"I need to go home."

"I'll take you," he said as he slowly pulled her to her feet. He put her arm over his shoulder and pulled her into his side. Eventually, he found her car.

Caroline suddenly found some energy when she saw her car. She walked quickly over to it, opened her door, and sat down in the driver's seat. Klaus leaned in and took her keys from her.

"Cute," he told her.

After Caroline was settled into the passenger seat and had her seatbelt buckled, Klaus drove her home. The drive to the party had been a silent one; the drive home was not silent.

Caroline fiddled with the radio dial. She found a song she liked and smiled.

Klaus quickly changed it. "I'm driving, so I get to pick the music."

Caroline changed it back. "It's my car."

Klaus changed it again. "And I'm the one driving it."

Caroline swatted his hands away and changed it back to the song she liked. "But I'm the one who owns it. And besides, you're driving, which means you should be focused on the road, not on the radio."

Klaus chuckled at her. "You are surprisingly logical when you've been drinking."

"Does that mean I'm not logical when I haven't been drinking?" She scrunched her nose at her own double negative. Had she said that correctly? She couldn't even tell; the alcohol was definitely affecting her brain.

Klaus didn't have an answer for her, so he smirked and returned his focus to the road.

"Where were you last year, when you were gone?" She was referring to his 'mystery' year when he missed almost the entire year of school.

"Wow, you're chatty, love."

She ignored his comment and returned to her question. "Where were you?"

"Busy."

"Were you in jail?"

"Maybe." His answer came immediately.

She glared at him. "No, you weren't."

"Then why'd you ask?"

"Why'd you lie?"

Klaus didn't answer. Instead, he frowned and turned up the music.

When Klaus pulled her car up to the curb in front of her house and turned off her car, they sat in silence for a few moments. He handed her keys back to her. She didn't take them; she stared straight ahead, through the windshield, looking at nothing in particular.

She took a deep breath, altering Klaus to the fact that she was about to break their silence. "Do you ever feel like there's not a person in the world that loves you?"

Klaus chuckled, drawing Caroline out of her reverie. "That's a more profound conversation than one we should be having while you're completely wasted."

Caroline gave him a look. "I'm not **completely** wasted," she told him as she grabbed her keys from him. They both laughed.

"Life can be a little rough, at times," he conceded to her earlier topic.

"I just wish…" she trailed off with a sigh and made no suggestion of continuing.

"You wish what, love?"

She shrugged, a little. "I wish that life was different, sometimes. More, somehow."

"Me too," Klaus mused. The smile soon faded from him face as he immediately caught himself, noticing how easily he lost his focus whenever he was around her. He hadn't intended to speak so seriously and so personally with Caroline. That would lead to getting attached, and that could **not** happen.

And it shouldn't happen, either. He would be a terrible match for someone as amazing and wonderful as Caroline Forbes.

"You know," she said slowly, pulling him away from his thoughts. "You're really not as vile as I thought you were."

Caroline moved in, wanting to kiss him. She closed her eyes, but Klaus turned his head and pulled away at the last moment.

_Not like this, Caroline. It can't be like this._

"Maybe we should do this another time."

Caroline opened her eyes and stared at him. She was hurt but she wouldn't let him see that; she refused. She covered the rejection with a glare before turning about, getting out of the car, and slamming the door shut behind her as she stormed into her house.


	6. Chapter Five: The Rewrite

Chapter Five – The Rewrite

* * *

Caroline had a massive hangover the day after the party. She met up with Bonnie at the local coffee shop for lunch — not that she wanted food; she just wanted coffee. She hadn't asked Elena because she wasn't sure if Elena was mad at her, or if she was mad at Elena; their current friendship status was too puzzling for her achy head to process and dissect right now. Caroline had mainlined alcohol the previous night; she needed to counteract that by consuming at least an excessive amount of caffeine today.

Bonnie laughed at her hung over friend. "I thought you were too 'highly evolved' to attend something as mundane and suburbanly social as one of Duke's parties." Bonnie spoke with a raised eyebrow.

"I know, I know. Big mistake." Caroline was holding her head up using both of her hands. "I was trying to do a favour for Elena."

"Really?" When Bonnie heard that Caroline had gone to the party after all, she had wondered what — or who — had changed her friend's mind.

"And it backfired hugely."

"How so?"

Caroline's head was still in her hands and she was facing the tabletop — she spoke more to the table than to Bonnie. "I got wasted. I made a fool of myself. Then I got rejected. It was big fun. What a night." There was no enthusiasm in her voice — none whatsoever.

" 'Rejected'? By who?"

Caroline hadn't even noticed her slip-up until Bonnie mentioned it. _Oops_. "Ugh, it doesn't even matter."

Bonnie wasn't buying that, but she decided to be nice and not argue with Caroline when she had a hangover. "Poor Care. That sucks."

"Yep." Caroline lowered her arms and rested her head on the tabletop.

Despite her hangover, she could admit to herself that the only reason she went to the party was because of Klaus. For some unknown reason, he seemed to genuinely like her and he wanted to spend time with her.

And she didn't hate that.

Caroline realized that there was something narcissistic and even downright cruel about when you are the object of someone's affections. Even if you do not return those feelings, you bask and delight in the feeling of being admired and appreciated. And wanted.

Or, at least, Caroline did.

She enjoyed being first for once. Klaus never even looked in Elena's direction. Caroline didn't feel like she was second choice with Klaus; she felt like she actually mattered.

She had never experienced that before.

She could deny it, but she knew she wanted him. She knew she was drawn to him — she knew she felt a pull towards him and she felt the strong surge of electricity whenever he was near her.

But would she be a hypocrite if she went against the deal she had made with Elena? She knew Elena wanted to end the deal and honestly, Caroline didn't even care about it anymore. She wanted Elena to be happy, and if she thought Damon could bring her happiness, then good for Elena. But a part of Caroline felt like she should keep up with her part of the deal. She actually enjoyed her time alone; she felt strangely empowered by being single and not obsessing about someone else.

But wasn't she doing just that? Not obsessing, exactly, but she found herself almost constantly thinking about Klaus Mikaelson now.

_So much for empowerment and independence…_

She could even admit that she enjoyed spending time with him — she actually had a great time at the party when she was with him.

But then, he didn't kiss her last night, and she wasn't sure what to think of that. Had she misread his signals?

"What's going on with you and Elena?" Bonnie's words broke Caroline's reverie.

"We're fighting." Caroline sat up straight and looked across the table at her friend. "Did she tell you?"

Bonnie shook her head. "Since she's not here, I figured as much."

Caroline sighed; how much should she tell Bonnie? "She did something stupid, but she thinks I overreacted."

"You do have a tendency of doing that, Care."

She knew Bonnie was trying to be gentle, but Caroline still felt the sting of those words. Bonnie always stood up for Elena. Always — even when that meant standing against Caroline.

"But I didn't, Bon. Seriously. Not this time. I'm trying to look out for her."

"What do you mean?"

"I…" Caroline cut herself off. She didn't want to explain what had happened between her and Tyler to her friends. She was ashamed and wanted to just ignore it until it went away. Or until he went away. Gosh, graduation could not come soon enough. Then he could take his fancy scholarship and leave this town for good. (Caroline, on the other hand, had no idea yet where she was going or what she would be doing.) "Never mind." Caroline leaned back in her chair and looked around at the other coffee shop patrons.

Just then, Klaus entered. He walked over to the counter and placed his order. While he waited, he noticed Caroline and smiled at her. She tensed up and instantly looked away. She wasn't ready to see him or face him again.

Well, she didn't mind seeing him, but she had hoped it would be under such circumstances where he wouldn't know she could see him.

Bonnie noticed Caroline's reaction, and who she was reacting to, but remained silent.

Once he had his drink, he walked over to her table. "Hello, love." He smiled at her again.

Caroline quickly gathered her things and bolted out of the coffee shop. Klaus looked to Bonnie; she shrugged, slightly amused, and followed Caroline out the door.

* * *

The English teacher was running late on Monday, so nearly everyone was in his or her seat when she did finally enter the classroom. She made no apologies, but simply sat down at her desk at the front of the room. "Well, now, did everyone have a good weekend?" She asked the question, but everyone knew she didn't care about the answers. She didn't even care if she received any answers.

Tyler spoke up, using this opportunity to embarrass the two people in class that he loved to target. "Maybe we should ask Mikaelson."

Klaus had just entered the classroom then, late, and quickly slunk into his seat. His usual seat near the door, not the one directly behind Caroline. She felt her face flush as she looked away — at the wall, at the front of the room; basically, she looked everywhere but at Klaus.

"Okay, then. Well. "The English teacher tried to remember what she was supposed to talk about. A moment passed. "Oh, yes."

She cleared her throat and stood. "I'd like you all to write you own version of Shakespeare's Sonnet #141."

The class groaned; the English teacher ignored their groans and continued explaining the parameters for the assignment.

"Any form you'd like. Rhyme, no rhyme, whatever. I would like to see you elaborate on his theme, however. Now, let's read it aloud, shall we? Anyone?"

No one dared to look up from his or her notebook.

The English teacher sighed, rather dramatically. "Fine. I'll choose. Dylan?"

He groaned.

"Just read the first quatrain, Dylan," the English teacher conceded.

"Okay."

He sat up straighter in his seat and read aloud:

"In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes,  
For they in thee a thousand errors note;  
But 'tis my heart that loves what they despise,  
Who in despite of view is pleas 'd to dote."

"Excellent. Thank you, Dylan. Any questions about the assignment?"

Caroline raised her hand. "Do you want this in iambic pentameter?"

The English teacher didn't respond right away; she just stood there, mouth hung open in shock over the fact that Caroline Forbes was actually asking a question about the assignment, rather than fighting her on it. "Uh, that's not necessary. But feel free to challenge yourself to that, if you'd like."

Caroline nodded and didn't look up from her notebook for the remainder of the class.

* * *

"What do you do to her?" Stefan asked Klaus as they walked through the hall with Matt at school.

"I don't know," Klaus answered immediately.

They walked in silence for a few moments. When neither Stefan nor Matt responded, he answered the question again. "I decided not to do anything when she was too drunk to remember it."

Matt and Stefan shared a look.

"You do realize that this puts the whole operation in peril, right?" Matt pointed out.

"Well obviously. She won't even look at me."

"Can't you just apologize?"

Klaus gave them a look that said that was not possible.

"No further insights from the one who's known her since their toddler days?" Stefan asked Matt.

He shrugged and shook his head. "She could need a day to cool off."

Klaus nodded at the idiotic help. "I'll give it a day." He responded in a sarcastic tone, but he actually meant what he said; he planned to give her time, in hopes that her anger would dissipate as time passed.

They walked in silence for a few more minutes.

As the three of them turned a corner, they entered a corridor where, at that exact moment, Caroline was supervising the hanging of a banner advertising the prom. When Klaus walked by with Stefan and Matt, she grabbed one of the loose ropes, which fell to the ground and tripped all three of them.

She glared at Klaus, gave a "harrumph," and walked away, leaving the two other prom committee members to hang the banner without her supervision.

Klaus watched her walk away from his spot, still on the hallway floor. "She may need two days," he thought aloud.

* * *

Elena couldn't help the huge smile that refused to leave her face when she saw Damon in the hallway at school on Monday. Even though they had been texting all weekend, she still smiled ridiculously when she caught sight of him.

He walked over to where she was standing, in front of her open locker. He returned her smile, leaned in, and kissed her cheek as he greeted her. She felt her heart skip a beat or two and her face heat up.

"Friday night was fun."

Elena nodded. "Yea, it was a good party."

"It was, but I was more referring to the company I had."

She blushed at his words.

"But the host guy, is he always so creepy?"

"That's Duke. And yea, he is." Elena made a face.

He was quiet while she grabbed her books from her locker. "So, I heard about some big, end-of-the-school-year dance thing that's coming up."

"You mean the prom?"

"Yes, that one." He smirked. "I was thinking about checking it out. Would you like to go with me?"

Elena groaned softly. "I would love to. But you know I can't go if Caroline doesn't. I'm sorry."

"And she won't be? Didn't you say she's on the dance committee?"

"Yes. But Caroline almost never attends these things, these 'mundane social functions,' as she refers to them. Plus, she hasn't said anything about going or even looking for a dress, so I don't think she's planning to attend."

Damon sighed, dejectedly. "Which means you can't either. At least, not without ruining your friendship."

"Wow, what a stupid deal I made."

"I won't disagree."

Elena wanted to go, badly. Even though she currently was unsure of where her friendship with Caroline was — what with their argument/fight at the party —Elena still wanted to stick with the deal she made with Caroline. She did not want their friendship to be over.

Damon's voice pulled her from her thoughts.

"I hope she decided to go."

Elena melted under the intensity of his stare. "Me, too."

* * *

Klaus found Tyler leaning against the side of his truck at the end of the school day.

"Can you not lean against my truck, mate? You'll leave a grease mark."

Tyler clenched his jaw but did as Klaus requested. He pushed away from the truck and stood right in front of Klaus, blocking the way to the driver's side door.

Klaus rolled his eyes. "What do you want, Lockwood."

Tyler didn't answer right away; he took out his wallet and handed two $100 bills to Klaus. "The party on Friday night was great; this should cover the prom."

"Forget it," Klaus said as he shook his head. "I'm no longer interested."

Tyler stepped closer to Klaus and put his hand out in front of him. "Hey, look, I know she's dreadful, but we have a deal here, dude."

Klaus clenched his jaw and his hand — he wanted nothing more than to punch Tyler right now (or break that hand, perhaps) for calling Caroline dreadful. She was anything but. And she deserved better than this, better than everything that was going on behind her back.

But before Klaus could respond — or take action — Tyler spoke again.

"Dude, I'll double it. You're not really going to say no to $400, are you?"

Klaus debated for a moment. He couldn't back out; what if Tyler found someone else? He wouldn't subject Caroline to that. Plus, he didn't want to. (To be honest, Klaus wasn't sure if 'didn't want to' meant that he still wanted to spend time with Caroline or still wanted to take money from Tyler Lockwood. The former option frightened him too much for him to explore the idea any further.)

Then he smirked. If he was going to be in this, then he was going to be really in it. "I don't know. I mean, there's the flowers, the limo, the tux…"

"Enough!" Tyler reopened his wallet, getting Klaus's hint for more money, and handed Klaus a wad of cash. "Take it."

Klaus did so, with another smirk and a laugh. Then he bumped Tyler's shoulder with his own as he passed Tyler to get into his truck.

"Just do it faster this time, Mikaelson." Tyler's voice caused Klaus to pause his movements; he had his hand just on the driver's door handle. "Don't doddle and take your sweet time again."

_That's it!_ Klaus was officially at his boiling point with Tyler Lockwood. Who did this idiot think he was speaking with?!

He spun around, grabbed Tyler's shoulder, and shoved him into the side of the neighbouring van.

"Need I remind you, Lockwood, that you sought me out in this situation? So if I bow out now, you're screwed — or should I say, you won't be getting screwed. If you want to bring in someone else, I'll gladly walk away. But as long as I am still involved, I will do things **my** way. So back down. Now."

Tyler was furious, but he knew better than to pick a fight with Klaus. So he straightened up, smoothed out his shirt, and walked away.

Klaus got into his truck and drove off.

* * *

Stefan laughed as he and Matt walked out of the school at the end of the day.

"Look at my elbow," he said as he pointed said body part towards Matt. He had a wicked-looking bruise. "I don't think this is from football practice; I must have hit the floor hard when Caroline tripped us."

Matt didn't respond; he didn't even chuckle. He waited until they were inside his own truck, since he was giving Stefan a ride, before he spoke. "Dude, I need to ask you something. Why are you doing this? I know you told Tyler than you wanted more-instant popularity here, but I don't buy that, not completely. Why are you going through so much effort and hassle to help your brother get the girl?"

Stefan sighed and spoke softly. "Because it's my fault that we're here."

"In Mystic Falls?"

"Yes. When our father received the job opportunity here in Mystic Falls, he was torn between staying where we were for another year or two until Damon and I were finished high school or taking the job and uprooting us. Damon wanted to stay, but I wanted to move; I hated everything about my life back there, except for my best friend Lexi. I begged and pleaded with our father, privately, until he agreed to move us. Damon has no idea, and I want to keep it that way.

"But he blames our father, which is terrible, so I'm hoping that if he can find happiness here, he might forget his anger about moving. And I think Elena could be a large part of that happiness for Damon here."

Matt nodded. As a brother himself, he knew about wanting your older sibling to be happy. Matt constantly worried about his older sister Vicki and the choices she was making (mostly bad, in Matt's opinion — like drugs, alcohol, skipping school, and hanging out with some of the worst people that Mystic Falls had to offer).

"I get it, man."

* * *

Tyler saw Elena during their gym class and decided now was a good time to approach her, since that stupid dick-headed new guy wasn't around her — Tyler had seen them together more often than apart since Duke's party. Actually, he had spotted Elena a few moments ago, but he was enjoying the sight of her too much to move closer to her just yet.

In fact, Tyler hated to go up and talk to Elena; it would interrupt his view of her long, lean legs — legs he often enjoyed imagining being wrapped around his own waist.

_Soon_, he told himself. _Soon._

Prom was the plan; he'd have Elena on prom night.

"Hey, sweet cheeks."

Elena was in the middle of stretching before playing badminton. She looked around and saw Tyler approaching her. She had no idea why he would be calling her 'sweet cheeks.'

"Hi, Tyler." She hoped that didn't sound as confused and weirded out as she felt.

"I want to talk to you about the prom."

"Really?"

He nodded. "Yea. Are you going?"

"I'm not sure yet. I have to work some… things… out before I'll know for sure."

"I have high hopes that you'll be there."

"Okay. Thanks." Elena felt even more creeped out now; Tyler was giving her a slimy smile and raking his eyes up and down her body. She pointed behind her, to the badminton net and the partner who was waiting for her to play. "I have to get back to gym class. I'll see you around, Tyler."

Tyler smirked. "You definitely will, Elena."

He walked backwards out of the gym, keeping his eyes on Elena and her long, sexy legs.

Elena couldn't stop the shiver of disgust that ran down her back. She felt bad because Tyler was her friend; she shouldn't be creeped out by her friend, right?

* * *

Caroline was at a store downtown buying art supplies for some more hand-painted signs and banners she would personally paint and then have posted around the school. She had just come from the printers, where the high-quality signs were being printed on neon, bright-coloured paper.

_All the better to capture people's attention with._

She had tried to pick out some paper, but she couldn't decide, so she thought she's pick out some paint instead. As she walked over to the paint section, Klaus stepped into her path.

He greeted her with a smile.

Caroline gave him a scowl. "What are you doing here?"

"Buying art supplies," Klaus responded with a shrug.

"Ugh, right. So you're an artist now?" She scoffed and rolled her eyes, not waiting for an answer. "Whatever. You know, you're so…"

"Charming?" Klaus provided with a smile, cutting her off. "Wholesome?"

"Unwelcome."

Caroline tried to side-step around him, but he blocked her path. "You're not as perfectly put together as you think you are, you know that love."

She put her hands on her hips and tilted her head, slightly offended. "And you're not as much of a smooth-talking bad ass as you think **you** are."

He smirked at that. "Ooo, someone still has her knickers in a twist."

She stuck her index finger out, all but shoving it in his face. "Don't for one minute think you've had any effect whatsoever on my… knickers." She lowered her voice to say the last word.

"Then what did I have an effect on?"

Her response came immediately. "Nothing."

She pushed past him and headed out the door. She'd pick out paint and paper supplies some other time.

* * *

Caroline went over to the Gilbert house that evening. Not for dinner; she needed to clear the air with Elena. They hadn't spoken to each other since their fight at Duke's party. And to last basically an entire weekend was quite a long time for the two of them to go without speaking to each other.

She made a quick stop first to pick up Bonnie.

"Is Bonnie our buffer?" Elena asked when she saw Caroline standing on her front porch with Bonnie at her side.

"Do we need one?"

"You tell me, Care."

She scoffed. "No. I brought Bonnie because I need to tell you both something, and I would much prefer to say it only once."

Elena stepped outside and closed the front door behind her. Bonnie moved to position herself at an equal distance from each of her two best friends. They formed three points of a triangle.

Caroline took a deep breath before speaking. "I know you both have been wondering what happened between me and Tyler, and I know I've been uncharacteristically quiet about the matter." Caroline looked around her, suddenly aware of how out-in-the-open she felt on the Gilbert front porch. "Uh, can we talk somewhere else? Not here outside."

"Sure," Elena said with a nod. She would agree to almost anything right now; she would be lying if she said she hasn't been curious about what happened between Caroline and Tyler. Caroline never mentions it, as if it never happened. "How about my room?"

Caroline nodded. "Sure."

Once inside, Bonnie and Caroline said a quick hello to Mr and Mrs Gilbert before they went upstairs with Elena to her bedroom.

Caroline skipped over the preamble she had originally rehearsed and just dove right into it.

"So he was an ass pretty much the entire time we dated. I mean, he was sweet at first, full of flattering comments, soft touches, and sweet kisses. But he soon became more controlling." She paused to take a deep, calming breath and let it out before continuing on. Her friends were patient and quiet, waiting to hear what she had to say. "He pressured me and pressured me to have sex with him. We did, eventually, and I hated it. I wasn't ready to be with him like that. When I told him I didn't want to do it again, he slapped me across my face and stormed out. I went over to his house half an hour later and found him having sex with someone else."

Caroline instantly felt better, having told her friends the truth.

"Why didn't you tell us, Care?" Elena asked.

"Because I was ashamed of my actions. And because the girl he cheated on me with was the sister of the guy you were dating at the time, Elena."

"Vicky Donovan?"

"Yeah."

"Care…"

She shook her head slightly. "I'm not looking for your pity, Elena. But I see the way he's been acting around you and the way he looks at you. And then, when I saw him whispering in your ear at that stupid party, I just panicked and freaked out because you're obviously his next target. I don't want you to end up as another notch on Tyler Lockwood's bedpost. You deserve more than that."

"So do you, Care." Elena stepped forward and pulled Caroline in for a hug.

Caroline breathed a sigh of relief; she had no idea how much the truth of what happened had been weighing on her until she let it go. She hated keeping her friends in the dark about what she had gone through.

She smiled when she felt Bonnie's arms wrap around her and Elena.

_Group hug_.

When they finally pulled away and detangled their arms, Elena spoke first. "Thanks for being concerned, Care, but I would never sleep with Tyler. Ever. I don't see him that way. He's just a friend."

"Plus, she wants to sleep with Damon," Bonnie added.

"What?"

"Oh, don't deny it!"

They all laughed at that, and Caroline was glad that she finally told her friends. She didn't even mind that the conversation had now shifted to centre around Elena, as it inevitably always did. She was just glad to not have this huge, secrety thing standing between her and her friends, blocking or shadowing over their connection anymore.

Bonnie spoke up then and asked the so-far unspoken question to Caroline. "Why didn't you say anything, Care? Did you report him for abuse?"

"No," Caroline said with a scoff. "It was his word against mine. And he's a Lockwood. I would never stand a chance."

* * *

Klaus sat in the cafeteria the next day at lunch. He was alone, as usual. But his seat offered him the ideal view of Caroline. She was sitting with the other prom committee members. She was giving out orders and she looked lovely doing so.

She was still pissed at him. That much was obvious; Klaus didn't need Matt's 'insight' to figure that bit out.

But what to do?

She was humiliated, clearly. Caroline went from flat-out refusing him to actually kind of agreeing to go to the party with him. She got drunk at the party and admitted some personal things to him. Then she put herself even further out there by wanting to kiss him.

And he had to reject her.

It was bad enough that he was getting paid by an ass to spend time with her; he couldn't take advantage of her any further by kissing her. It would have been even more inappropriate than the situation already was.

He should just leave her alone. That would be the best thing to do. Leave her alone, and forget about this stupid deal he had going on with Tyler Lockwood.

But he couldn't. He didn't want to cut her out of his life. She had barely spent any time with him, but she had already burrowed her way in. She left in imprint now, a permanent mark.

Klaus has never cared to have anyone around him, except his siblings. He's never needed to have anyone with him, outside of his family. He was perfectly fine on his own. He even enjoyed being alone.

Or, at least he thought he was.

The right thing here — the noble thing — would be to stop whatever this was and go back to how things were before the idiotic Lockwood offered him money. Klaus didn't even care that he would be letting down Stefan and his brother; he hardly knew Stefan and couldn't care less about him or his brother. But Klaus needed to money. And now that he had it, he wasn't sure he would be able to give it back to Lockwood; it just felt so good to take something from that spoiled brat.

It wasn't that he was simply in this because of the money — he was at first, but after spending some time with Caroline (mostly following her or tailing after her), he found that he actually enjoyed being around her.

The stupid money from the stupid Lockwood.

_That was where this all goes to shit._

If there was no money, he would be fine. But money changes everything.

And, if offered again, Klaus would take it — he knew he would; it was his only source of income. None of the managers or business owners in town trusted him enough to hire him because of his reputation — not that he wanted to work at a lame job in Mystic Falls anyway — and he didn't receive an allowance. And since he wanted to leave this one-pony town immediately after graduating high school and turning 18, he would need money somehow.

Enter Tyler Lockwood.

Klaus clenched his jaw, trying to come up with a way out of this. But he couldn't find any. He was stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place. It was beginning to feel like home to him; he had been here often.

So if he couldn't avoid all of this — and now that he had the money, it seemed unlikely that he could avoid any of this — he could at least smooth things over with Caroline.

But it would have to be something substantial. He had embarrassed her; in the schoolyard tit-for-tat scheme, he'd have to embarrass himself in order to even their playing field. Better yet, he could embarrass himself on an even larger scale, not only to match her embarrassment, but to go beyond it, in the hopes of making her feel better.

That seemed like the safer route to take.

Klaus gritted his teeth again when he came to this conclusion.

_This is going to be unpleasant._


	7. Chapter Six: Jumping In

Chapter Six – Jumping In

* * *

Caroline was sitting in her English class and taking a quiz, currently focusing on the question about juxtaposition and not focusing even slightly on how Klaus's seat was conspicuously empty, because she didn't notice his absence.

Not at all.

She was more than halfway through her quiz when she became aware of the sound outside. It started out low, but it was definitely growing louder.

It was music.

But it wasn't someone blaring music from a car. The English classroom was at the back of the school, while the parking lot was out front.

_Is someone singing?_

It sure sounded like that. Caroline put down her pen and really listened. She wasn't the only one in her class to do so.

_Someone __**is**__ singing!_

The beginning was unsure. But as the song grew louder and entered the second verse, the singer became more confident.

But the singer shouldn't have been gaining confidence; he was terrible!

By now, everyone in the classroom was paying attention to the music and not their quizzes. Even the English teacher was distracted by the not-so-lovely singing.

"I wish I could carry your smile in my heart  
For times when my life seems so low  
It would make me believe what tomorrow could bring  
When today doesn't really know, doesn't really know"

The students sitting in the row closest to the windows got up from their seats to see what was going on. The English teacher knew she should forbid such movement, especially during a quiz, but she couldn't be bothered. She was curious too, after all.

"Oh my gosh…"

"Is that…?"

"Oh, **my** gosh…"

After hearing that, everyone rushed to the window, including the English teacher.

"I'm all out of love, I'm so lost without you  
I know you were right, believing for so long  
I'm all out of love, what am I without you  
I can't be too late to say that I was so wrong"

Caroline slowly walked to the window and joined her classmates. She looked out the window and saw the horrifying sight.

There was Klaus, standing on the grass beneath the classroom windows. He had a small stereo sitting on the ground next to him, and he was crooning. And he made quite a sarcastic show of it.

"I want you to come back and carry me home  
Away from these long, lonely nights  
I'm reaching for you, are you feeling it too?  
Does the feeling seem oh, so right?"

Klaus reached his arm upwards when he sang about 'reaching.' The English teacher placed her hand over her heart, as if the song and that gesture were meant for her.

"And what would you say if I called on you now  
And said that I can't hold on?  
There's no easy way, it gets harder each day  
Please love me or I'll be gone, I'll be gone"

Klaus smiled at Caroline and sent her a wink (to which she responded with a soft shake of her head and a scoff) as he went into the second chorus with gusto.

"I'm all out of love, I'm so lost without you  
I know you were right, believing for so long  
I'm all out of love, what am I without you  
I can't be too late to say that I was so wrong"

Klaus ended the song there, after the second chorus. Inside the English classroom, some of the students clapped, others laughed, and a few even cheered. Caroline shook her head again and laughed before she backed away from the window feeling mortified. But the entire time, she could not wipe the smile off her face.

* * *

Klaus found himself sitting in the detention hall the next day. He wasn't surprised that his actions had landed him in detention, but he was pissed that he didn't get a chance to know Caroline's reaction. He saw her mortification. And he saw her smile despite that mortification. But he hadn't seen her since then; he couldn't find her after school yesterday and he hadn't caught even a glimpse of her today, either.

Now he was surrounded by the other miscreants of Mystic High, the ones who typically spent their lunch period here in detention. They were all sitting quietly, fiddling or doodling or napping, just doing whatever they could to make the time in detention pass by a little bit faster.

One of them leaned over and spoke in a semi-hushed whisper that was loud enough for the entire population of detention to hear, but not the supervising teacher. "Nice song, Mikaelson."

Klaus rolled his eyes and sent the idiot an inappropriate hand gesture, but otherwise ignored the comment.

The Math teacher was sitting at the desk at the front of the room, reading a magazine and doing her best to ignore the students in detention.

The door to the detention hall opened and Klaus heard a melodic voice say, "Excuse me, Mrs Blaise."

He recognized the voice as that of Caroline and he looked up at her. She was standing in the doorway. She gave him a small smile and he perked up a little, sitting up taller in his seat.

Caroline walked into the room and moved to the front, addressing the Math teacher again.

"I'd like to state for the record that Mr Mikaelson's current incarceration is highly unnecessary. I never filed a complaint." Caroline smiled to herself; maybe being the only daughter of a workaholic sheriff did have its benefits after all.

"You didn't have to file a complaint, Miss Forbes. He disrupted a classroom."

The Math teacher didn't even lift her gaze from her magazine as she spoke. Caroline shifted her gaze to Klaus. She motioned her head towards the window. He shrugged, having no idea what she was hinting at.

She motioned again and looked towards the window and back at him with an expression that clearly said, '_Make a break for it, you moron._'

She returned her attention to the Math teacher / detention supervisor while Klaus inched out of his seat and moved cautiously towards the window.

The other miscreants watched this all unfold, enraptured and gleeful.

Caroline continued her argument as Klaus reached the window. "But Mrs Blaise, I hardly think a simple serenade warrants a week of detention."

Klaus froze when he was halfway out of the window, suddenly aware that the detention hall was on the second floor of the school.

"There are far more hideous acts than off-key singing being performed by the student body on a regular basis."

This time, the teacher did look up at Caroline; she wanted to make sure Miss Forbes clearly understood what she had to say on the matter. "You're not going to change my mind, Miss Forbes. Rules stick." The Math teacher turned her head to go back to reading her magazine.

Caroline started to panic as Klaus had yet to make the jump for the nearby tree and the teacher's desk was directly facing that window.

"Wait," Caroline grabbed the teacher's attention again just before she would have — or could have — spotted Klaus.

Caroline glanced towards the window. Klaus was just about to make the jump.

"I wanted to ask you a question… about Math." Caroline was making it up on the fly. Then she spotted the teacher's coffee cup, which had no lid and was conveniently located next to her open magazine.

She hoped the coffee was not too hot; she didn't want to scald the Math teacher if the liquid happened to land on her — Caroline just wanted to distract her.

Before Caroline could second-guess her actions, and certainly before the teacher could catch Klaus jumping out the window, Caroline reached towards the magazine but 'accidentally' knocked over the coffee cup just as Klaus jumped. The coffee ruined the magazine and landed on the teacher's lap.

Then Caroline noticed the string and tag from a tea bag.

_Maybe tea won't completely stain and ruin her clothes._

The miscreants actually cheered as Klaus disappeared from the window; he had made his great escape.

"Oh, Mrs Blaise, I'm so sorry. I'm such a klutz sometimes."

Mrs Blaise tried to be stern, but that was a challenge since she had lukewarm tea covering her lap. She was so distracted by her spilled tea that she didn't notice, or didn't pay attention to, the cheering.

"I'm all right. But please stop trying to help." Caroline had picked up a kleenex, trying to mop up the tea, but she only succeeded in making everything messier.

"I should just leave; I'm only making things worse."

The teacher nodded again.

"Sorry, again," Caroline said, over her shoulder, as she walked as quickly as she could out of the detention hall.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the detention hall's door close behind her. If she had been caught breaking Klaus out, they both would have wound up in the detention hall.

_And Caroline Forbes does not receive detention._

Caroline didn't stop walking until she was underneath the tree outside the detention hall. She looked around but saw no one.

"Seriously?! I sprung the dickhead from detention and he left?"

She was about the storm away when she heard a soft chuckle followed by, "Look up, sweetheart."

She did and found Klaus, still in the tree.

"There you are."

"I guess I never you told that I'm afraid of heights."

Caroline smiled up at him. "Come on, you're not up that high."

He gripped the branch he was holding onto even tighter. "Try looking at it from this angle."

Caroline took a moment to assess the branch structure. She quickly planned out how she would get down, if she were up where Klaus now was. "Just put your foot there and then—"

"Forget it." Klaus shook his head. "I'm staying here."

Caroline huffed and put her hands on her hips. "Seriously? You want me to climb up and show you how to get down?"

"Maybe." Klaus's voice had a slight tremble to it.

Caroline sighed and climbed the tree. When she was perched on a branch next to Klaus, he flashed her a grin and swung down to the ground with ease and grace, leaving her up in the tree.

"Seriously!?" Caroline groaned when she realized she had been duped. "You suck!" she said before climbing down after him.

* * *

They left the school then, together, and walked to a nearby outdoor fairground. It was set up in a large parking lot that was hardly ever used anyway and was a fundraiser for some local event that Klaus really couldn't care less about. He had driven past it on the way to school, and it immediately came to mind as the perfect destination for their mini-escape.

"Air Supply?" Caroline asked. "Really?" They were walking slowly amongst the games, looking at them but not yet playing any.

Klaus shrugged. "I figured it had to be something ridiculous to win your respect. And to simultaneously piss you off."

"Good call." They were quiet as they took a few steps. "But don't ever sing again. Seriously, you were terrible."

"Well, we can't all have the voice of an angel, love." She tried not to blush at his comment. He smirked. "So how did you get Blaise to look the other way? I thought she would have nabbed me when I was halfway out that window."

"If it weren't for me, you definitely would have been caught. But I'm amazing and I dazzled her with my wit." They both laughed. "Seriously, I can talk my way out of almost anything."

"And my way too, apparently." He turned his head slightly and caught her gaze. "Thank you."

She was momentarily taken off guard by his offering of thanks, but she quickly recovered. "You're welcome."

Caroline saw the light colouring of his eyes and the blondest tints in his hair. She hadn't noticed it at first, but Klaus was rather attractive. She missed it initially because, unlike other guys, he didn't call attention to his looks.

But he really couldn't hide his lean physique, raspberry-coloured lips, or sea-coloured eyes. (They seemed to change colours, depending on the light — under the fluorescent lights at school they appeared green, at the Grill they looked to be more blue, and, in this direct sunlight, Caroline noticed that they were actually a mesmerizing blue-green mix. She also noticed that they seemed to betray his emotions; even when he formed his face into an expressionless mask, he couldn't quite control the emotions in his eyes.)

Even his chiseled jaw — did she really just think the world 'chiseled'? — couldn't really be hidden by the just-enough-to-be-sexy golden stubble that always graced his face.

Suddenly, Caroline broke into hysterical laughter. Klaus gave her a look.

"I cannot believe I actually broke you out of detention. That's so… atypical of me."

"Do you ever just let your hair down and have some fun?"

"No. Never. What is this word 'fun' that you speak of?"

Klaus smirked at her. "Let's change that, then, shall we?"

He stopped walking and gestured to the game in front of them, one requiring the player to shoot water from a plastic gun at a target. Caroline rolled her eyes but picked up the toy gun. Once the game started, she hit the target right at the centre and the water meter quickly rose to the top. The game attendant handed Caroline a small stuffed animal as her prize.

Klaus scoffed. "I suppose being the sheriff's daughter would have its advantages here…"

Caroline didn't respond; she just gave him a shrug and grinned hugely.

She noticed a small kid and her mother standing nearby. She handed the stuffed animal to the little girl and walked away. Klaus followed her.

"You have a soft side, huh?" he asked, sarcastically. "Who knew!"

"Sometimes." She lifted her index finger up to hover just near her lips in a secret or shushing action. "But don't tell anyone; I wouldn't want it to ruin my self-absorbed, high-maintenance reputation."

He was going to respond, to contradict her, but she spoke again before he had the chance.

"Ooo, I wanna try this one." He smiled when he saw her eyes light up. Then he saw which game she was referring to.

He raised his eyebrow. "Archery?"

She nodded, eagerly. "I saw it in 'The Hunger Games' and have wanted to try it ever since."

He had no idea what she was talking about.

"How hard can be it?" She said with a shrug.

He only smirked; he was going to enjoy this.

She stepped up to the game booth and grabbed the toy bow and an arrow. She aligned the part just below the arrow head with the part on the bow where the arrow rests. She pulled the string back with her right hand, using her left hand to keep the arrow in its place, and lined up the arrow head with her target. She held her breath as she let go of the arrow string.

She missed her target completely. The arrow fell to the ground and far left of the target.

Frustrated, she tried again.

This time, the arrow flew too far to the right, overcompensating for the too-far-to-the-left trajectory that her first attempt had taken.

She let her arms fall to her sides and she sighed in frustration.

Klaus chuckled.

"It's not funny," she told him with a glare.

"You look like an adorable female characterization of Cupid."

"It's not supposed to be adorable."

"Artemis, then: goddess of the hunt."

She turned to glare at him. "I'm pretty sure a goddess of the hunt would actually be able to hit her target."

"You're trying too hard, love." He stepped closer to her. "And you're much too rushed."

She put her hands on her hips, even though she was still gripping the bow with her left hand. "And you're what, an archery expert?"

He shrugged. "Not an expert, but I am proficient."

"Oh really?" She asked, jokingly going along with what he said.

He nodded.

That's when she realized he wasn't joking. "Seriously?"

He nodded again. "Your aim was too low, your elbows were too high, and you stance was atrocious."

She scoffed and turned back to the game to put the bow down. Klaus grabbed her arm lightly, halting her movements.

"Stop being so stubborn and let me show you." He removed his hand and she rolled her eyes before straightening her back. "Now resume your stance."

"Why, so you can mock its atrocity again?"

"No, so I can help."

Caroline let out a sigh but did what he asked. She grabbed an arrow, held it in place against the bow, and raised both of them up.

"Spread your legs a little more; this will give you balance and keep you grounded."

He stepped even closer, standing behind her as he wrapped his arms around hers. He placed his hands over hers so he could position them correctly. She flinched at first, at the close touch — they had never been this close before — but she relaxed when she heard his voice speak low in her ear.

"Now, you need to lower you elbow." He pressed down lightly on her right elbow, the one that was pulled back behind her. She complied. "That's better. Now pull back more on the string until the tension is taut and tense, almost as if it will break." His right hand moved from her elbow, along her arm, and back to her hand, guiding it back further as he spoke. As she let him pose her, Caroline noted that his voice had a calming effect. "Good. Aim a little higher. Perfect." She noticed how rough his hands were; they provided a not unpleasant contrast to her soft ones. "Now take a deep breath and let go of the arrow when you release your breath."

She closed her eyes as she inhaled. She could smell Klaus's scent, mixed in with the typical fairground smells. She opened her eyes and exhaled while letting go of the arrow. She watched, in amazement, to see her arrow hit the target. It didn't land in the centre, but it was only about an inch away from it.

_Wow! A definite improvement._

She smiled excitedly and laughed. She turned around and almost hugged him, but stopped herself before she could.

He smiled back at her and he found himself admiring her smile and the way she lit up when she succeeded. She was quite literally radiant.

"Well done," he said.

"And you're pointers weren't so terrible." She gave him another small smile. "Thank you."

* * *

They spent the afternoon together in the fairgrounds, laughing. Caroline couldn't remember the last time she laughed so much. Or cared so little about what was happening anywhere except where she was.

She **should** be concerned about the classes she skipped that afternoon; she **should** be concerned about what the other prom committee members were doing in preparation for when they would decorate.

She **should** be concerned about many things, but she wasn't. She was just enjoying her time.

They played a few more games before leaving that section. They walked to the far end and played a short game of mini-putt on a small, five-hole course.

Klaus smiled, watching Caroline's smile and enthusiasm as she clapped her hands and jumped up and down when she got a hole in one — the only hole in one of the game.

"So what's your excuse?" Klaus asked her as they returned their clubs to the mini-putt attendant's booth.

"For what?"

"For acting the way we did today: you breaking me out of detention and then us skipping out on the rest of the day."

Caroline shrugged. "I don't like to do what other people expect. Then they'd expect that all the time and you don't have room to change. Or you do change and they become disappointed with you or shocked by the changes. Besides, why should I live up to other people's expectations and not the ones I create on my own?"

"But things never live up to their expectations," Klaus noted.

She nodded as they walked away from the mini-putt area. "Hence my deep avoidance of all such things."

"Like the dances you plan."

"Exactly."

"But you did go to the party out by the falls," he pointed out. He fixed his gaze on her, watching her reaction to his words.

"That was… an anomaly." She turned her face away from his gaze, hoping he wouldn't see the blush that she felt was creeping onto her face. But going by his chuckle, he either saw it or assumed that was the reason why she turned her head.

They were quite for a few minutes before Klaus spoke again. "You up for it?"

She turned to face him. "For what?" she asked.

He motioned to the sign just ahead of them for a paintball game.

She grinned and nodded. "Absolutely."

As the game attendant was handing the paintball guns to them and had finished explaining the rules, Klaus couldn't help but give voice to his astonishment. "I must admit my surprise here, love: I never expected you would want to do something that would muck up your hair or clothing."

She rolled her eyes at his insinuations as she used her fingers to comb her hair back into a ponytail. "Is this your way of trying to back out? To save yourself from embarrassment when I beat you?"

"No," he said slowly. "I expected you to cringe at the idea of doing something so messy."

"Well, that's your own fault, now isn't it, for making falsely-informed judgements."

He smirked. "I suppose it is."

Caroline returned his smirk and ran ahead into the paintball game area; she wanted to prove to Klaus just how wrong he was about her.

The two of them spent the next fifteen minutes creeping through the paint-ball course, stealthy and full of the desire to best the other.

Klaus nailed her in the back with a big glob of red paint. She got him back in the chest with a glob of yellow; he returned fire with a big blue splat to the side of her face. She squirted a green shot right onto his forehead.

After a few more shots, they were both covered in paint.

Caroline tried to shoot him again, but she found that her gun was empty. "No!"

Taking advantage of her distraction, Klaus grabbed her in a tackle. They landed softly on the ground together, laughing. As their laughter faded, their eyes locked amidst the colours of paint splattered across their faces.

Klaus looked down at Caroline and wiped a smear of blue paint from near her mouth. His thumb moved slightly higher and traced a circular pattern across her cheek. The lightness of his touch sent a small shiver down her spine. He slowly bent his head down until his mouth hovered over hers. He could feel her breath against his lips.

She almost held her breath with anticipation. His intense gaze captured hers, and her chest tightened. But then he paused, as if to ask her permission. She closed the gap between them and pressed her lips to his in a tender kiss.

Caroline felt passion and fervor bubbling just under the surface. She ran her hands along his arms as he kissed her again, this time applying more pressure. Their mouths parted at the same time.

She ran her hands along his shoulder and tilted her head, bringing their mouths deeper into one another. He traced his tongue along her lips which left a tingly trail in its wake.

Her eyes remained shut when he finally pulled away. He brought his mouth to hers one more time for a single peck. Her eyes fluttered open to see him smiling down at her as he pressed his forehead against hers. She met his gaze with a smile.

Caroline sat up slightly, bringing her even closer to Klaus. His smirk grew. But she surprised him by shoving his shoulder, which caused him to turn over and land on his back. Using his shock to her advantage, she quickly got up and ran towards the game entrance, looking back over her shoulder and laughing at his stunned expression.

* * *

Klaus's truck pulled up to the curb in front of Caroline's house. Their paint-covered clothes had dried and they looked like refugees from some strange, yet colourful, war. He shut off the truck and they got out.

"The state trooper?"

"Fallacy."

Caroline was finally getting answers to some of her questions. She was questioning every rumour she had ever heard about him. So far, none of them proved to be even remotely true.

"Marilyn Manson?"

"Hearsay."

They stopped and sat down on her front porch steps. "I know the porn career's a lie."

"Do you?" He scooted closer to her and began kissing her neck. Now that he had kissed her, Klaus found that he could never get enough. He couldn't get his fill of this one girl. Caroline laughed; it tickled.

"The accent?"

He pulled away to sit up straighter and flashed a grin at her. "It's real, love. I was born in England; all my siblings were. We moved over here when I was 12."

"How many siblings do you have?"

"Four."

"Four? Really?"

Klaus nodded. "Two older brothers, Elijah and Finn, and two younger siblings, Kol and Rebekah."

"Wow. I can't even imagine. Only child and all. But all I've been asking about are the rumours. Now tell me something true."

"I just did. My siblings are real."

Caroline gave him a look and shook her head. "No. Okay, tell me something else that's real, then, something no one else knows."

"Okay. Something real." He pondered that for a moment before leaning in closer. "You're beautiful." He kissed the side of Caroline's neck. "You're strong." He moved his head and kissed the other side of her neck. "You're full of light." He placed a quick peck on her lips. "I enjoy you."

Caroline felt herself blush from his words. She needed to distract herself again. She was very quickly falling under whatever spell he was weaving. "What kind of name is Klaus?"

"It's rather old-fashioned."

"Duh," Caroline said with an eye roll.

He smirked. "It's short for Niklaus."

_He has a nickname?_

"Does anyone call you Niklaus?"

He nodded. "My two older brothers do. And my parents."

"What do your younger siblings call you?"

Klaus smiled fondly, thinking of Kol and Rebekah. "Nik. They call me Nik."

"Nik," Caroline mused. "I think I like that one more than 'Klaus'; it suits you better, somehow."


	8. Chapter Seven: One-Sided Revelations

Chapter Seven – One-Sided Revelations

* * *

**A/N: T****hank you all so very much for reading. I cannot express how happy it makes me to know that you are enjoying what I am writing. And to those who are kind and wonderful enough to leave a review: I love you even more!**

* * *

Bonnie sat in the passenger seat of Caroline's car; they were on their way to school. But before Caroline's car had even left Bonnie's street, Bonnie spoke. She **had** to give voice to the question she'd had in her mind for what felt like forever — it had been in her mind for days, at least. "So you and Klaus Mikaelson, huh?" Bonnie asked as she raised and wiggled her eyebrows at Caroline.

"What?" Caroline kept her eyes on the road straight ahead as she drove and tried to school her face into a confused look, hoping — _please, please, please _— that her best friend would not be able to see through the act.

"Do not 'what' me, Care. You've been spending time with him. Don't think I haven't noticed."

She shook her head, but still kept her eyes looking straight ahead. "No, he's been showing up at the places where I am. There's a difference."

"You chatted him up when we went out for karaoke but then you bolted from him that day at the coffee shop."

Caroline scoffed, but refused to even glance in Bonnie's direction. "I did not 'chat him up'."

"You did break him out of detention yesterday," Bonnie pointed out.

Caroline sighed. Bonnie did have her on that one. "Because it was a lame charge and I felt like I owed him."

"He likes you, Care."

"What?" she scoffed again, trying not to blush when she remembered their kiss yesterday during the paintball game. _And what a kiss!_ Caroline shook her head. "No, he doesn't. He likes annoying me."

"Fine line between those two, hun."

Caroline huffed, but when she didn't respond, Bonnie spoke again. "Weren't you complaining, not too long ago, about how Elena always gets the guy and how you're never the one?"

Caroline cursed her drunken self for saying that. But it had been justified. Elena had run over to Caroline's house; she was eager and excited and overjoyed that Matt had kissed her. Caroline was heartbroken — **she** had been the one with the crush on Matt Donovan, and **she** had been the one flirting with him; not Elena. To quell her jealousy and her anger at her friend, Caroline tried to drink away her hurt feelings. And Bonnie had been with Caroline, listening to every drunken word.

"Geesh, Bon, what do you do, record all of our conversations?"

Bonnie shook her head. "No, I simply remember the parts that might be important to relevant later on."

"Or the parts you can use against me," Caroline muttered.

"Exactly!" she said with a wicked grin.

"Ugh!"

"Well, here's your chance, Care. He shows up at the places you are. He obviously likes you. And what's not to like, really?"

Caroline rolled her eyes but had to smile at that.

"Take a chance on him, Care." She froze when Bonnie's words unknowingly mimicked Klaus's. "It could turn into something really great."

She shook her head slightly, bringing herself back to her conversation with Bonnie. "Or it could be disastrous and crash and burn."

"Yes, but sometimes you have to take that risk. You can't possibly even glimpse the good if you're too busy hiding from the bad."

"Wow. Bonnie Bennett: wisdom of the ages and wise beyond her years."

But Bonnie was right. Caroline knew that. She'd have to take a chance.

"Yes, I am. And you're not denying my wisdom. So give him a chance, Care. It's obvious that you like him. Don't even try to lie to me about it, Caroline Forbes; I can read you like a book."

* * *

After her chat with Bonnie regarding Klaus, Caroline spent her entire first two periods of the day thinking about what her friend had said.

_Good thing the teachers never called on her to answer any questions._

She knew Bonnie was right. She'd have to take a chance. If she didn't, this could turn into one of the great what-ifs of her life.

And moreover, she wanted to take a chance. She enjoyed her time with him, and she was definitely curious to learn more about him.

Caroline found Bonnie at the beginning of their lunch period. She told her friend that she would take her advice and explore whatever was going on between her and Klaus.

"Good for you, Care. But do use caution. I know that contradicts what I said earlier, but I mean it: be careful. Klaus Mikaelson does not have the greatest reputation."

They entered the cafeteria as they talked and went straight to their usual table.

"Reputations are never the whole truth, Bon. You know that as well as I do."

Their 'reputations' proved that point: Bonnie was considered to be some kind of modern-day hippie — all 'peace and love and be kind to the earth' because she followed the earth sciences, listened to the elements, and used and had herbal remedies for everything — while Caroline was thought of as a stuck-up, wannabe-princess perfectionist.

These were largely untrue for the both of them.

"But there is always a slight basis in reality, Care. Not matter how slight, the hold to reality is always present. We both know that."

Bonnie was right, but Caroline thought that was too grim. Plus, there were so many rumours about Klaus; they couldn't all have a tidbit of truth in them, right?

"I don't know, Bon. I believe people deserve the chance to change. They deserve the chance to become better than what the world made them."

Elena joined them shortly thereafter. As she and Bonnie began chatting, Caroline made some notes on the clipboard she had in front of her.

"Is that the prom clipboard, Care?" Elena asked. She was hoping to bring up the idea of going to prom again — and maybe if Caroline was working on prom things when Elena asked, her blonde friend might be more willing to go?

But the shaking of Caroline's head derailed Elena's plans. "No. This is my cheerleading clipboard."

"Why do you still have cheer practice so late in the school year?" Bonnie asked. She had always wondered.

"I may be graduating, but most of the cheer squad isn't, and I want to make sure that the current girls know my routines for next year so they don't suck in my absence."

"Are you protecting your legacy?"

Caroline scoffed. "I hope being cheer captain isn't my legacy around here."

"Why not?" Elena asked.

"To always be remembered simply as 'Caroline Forbes: greatest cheer captain ever'? No thank you!"

"Yea," Elena nodded her head in agreement. "You are on like every committee there is here. If you were only remembered as the cheer captain, that would be very simplistic."

"Exactly!"

Towards the end of the lunch period, Caroline left her friends at their table. She grabbed her books for her next class, then went to Klaus's locker and waited there for him.

He smirked when he saw her. "Caroline! To what do I owe the pleasure?"

A part of her contemplated backing out right now, but she shook away that notion as she remembered how much fun she had yesterday with him. And she was already here, after all.

His voice brought her back to the present. "Are we skipping our afternoon classes again?"

"No," she said in a lowered voice. "And don't advertise that we did."

He, however, did nothing to even hint at lowering his voice. "What, that we skipped? That doesn't matter to anyone."

"It matters to me; I don't care for everyone to know."

He could tell that she was getting flustered, so he chuckled and let it pass. He pressed his lips together, widened his eyes, and locked his gaze with hers, waiting for her to speak; he had already questioned her presence (not that he minded spending any time with her).

She took a deep breath before she spoke. "I have decided to give you a chance."

"I knew you would eventually."

She scoffed at that. "You are incredibly self-assured."

"I know," he said with a smirk and a chuckle. "Fantastic. Where to?"

"I thought something simple, like the movies."

He shook his head. "No. We can't talk at the movies. Though it would be nice and dark there," he said with his signature smirk.

She ignored his obvious — and lame — innuendo. "What do you want to talk about?"

"You."

She rolled her eyes. "How about going for coffee?"

"Dinner," he corrected.

She noticed that he wasn't asking, but she responded anyway. "Fine."

"I'll drive this time. I'll be at your place at 7:30 this evening."

Caroline had barely processed his words when he walked away from her.

"Tonight? No, not tonight," she called after him. She had plans already with Elena and Bonnie. "I can't tonight."

He just kept walking; she had no idea if he heard her.

* * *

Caroline was beyond frustrated at the stubbornness of her fellow prom committee members. In fact, she was currently on the phone with one said stubborn committee member. She was trying to explain her vision of the prom to Dana, for decoration purposes, but Dana refused to listen.

"No, no, no, Dana. We can't have spotlights at the dance."

"_Why not, Care?_"

"Because they're disgusting and tacky." At that moment, Caroline heard a knock at her front door. She kept arguing with Dana as she walked to the door. "Let's just have small, twinkling lights strung across the ceiling." As she passed by the kitchen doorway, she noticed that it was exactly 7:30pm. She knew the knock at the door had to be Klaus. Apparently he hadn't heard her voice as he was walking down the hall at school, away from her.

_Impressive timing! But too bad he picked the wrong night._

Dana's voice brought Caroline back to the annoying phone conversation she was having. "_What?! Twinkling lights?_"

Caroline rolled her eyes at Dana's thickness and opened her front door. She was correct: there was Klaus, standing on her front door.

"Hello, love," he greeted her.

"Hi," she said quietly, holding the phone away from her mouth just long enough to say that one word before holding her finger up to silence him as she spoke into the phone again. "Soft, twinkling lights will be so much better than harsh, tacky spotlights, Dana. The twinkling lights will make it feel like everyone is dancing out under the stars. Who wouldn't want that for prom?"

"_We don't,_" Dana said, determined. "_We voted, without you, and we want the spotlights._"

Caroline turned away from the doorway and began pacing across her front hallway. "You what?! You can't vote against me; I'm the committee head."

"_We can out-rule you, though, if we all ban together. And we have. We __**all**__ want the spotlights; you are the only one who does not._"

"What?!" Caroline screeched.

"_We're having brightly-coloured spotlights at prom and they will be perfect. So be it. You're out-numbered here, Care._" And with that, Dana hung up on her.

Caroline was outraged.

"Over-ruled?! Ugh! Stupid spotlights."

"Problems, love?"

She whipped around at the sound of Klaus's voice. Truthfully, she had forgotten about his presence on her front porch once Dana started talking about all-but overthrowing her.

"Ugh!" Caroline threw her head back as she groaned. "Just the idiocy of my fellow prom committee members, turning our prom into something horribly tacky."

"You've been out-numbered?"

"Unfortunately."

"That's a shame."

Caroline suddenly realized he was on her front porch. "What are you doing here?" She crossed her arms and stepped closer to the front door. "I thought you would have shrunk back by now, realizing how difficult I am." She looked at him with just the suggestion of a smile.

Klaus lowered his head a little. "I would be a fool to miss such a rare opportunity of getting to spend time with you, wouldn't I?"

"Yes," she nodded her head in agreement. "It is quite rare for you."

He smirked. "I believe I was promised a date."

"You were. But not tonight; I have plans already with the girls." She denied his request with a smile and a shrug.

To her surprise, he didn't appear to be the least disappointed or frustrated. Instead, he took her by the arm as he said "Not anymore." He closed the door behind them and led the way towards his truck, where it was parked, just across the street from Caroline's house. "They won't be expecting you," he said while opening the door for her to get in. "I told them you had a change of plans and that you were spending the evening with me. They were surprised, but pleased. Apparently they think you need to get out more."

"You did what?"

He shrugged and then gestured for her to get into his truck. He had cleaned it out so he could escort her to dinner properly. She followed his gesture, sitting in the passenger seat, and he closed the door after her.

"Where are we going?" she asked him after he had started his truck and pulled away from her house.

"Dinner."

"Obviously. Where, the Grill?"

"No. We can go there anytime; I thought something special was in order for this evening."

That's when she noticed the music playing softly in the background and it surprised her.

"You listen to classical music?"

"That's jazz, actually. Though I enjoy classical as well. Not quite on par with your Top 40s, but since I'm the owner of this vehicle, I believe the musical selection is my choice, as per your rules love."

She scoffed; it figures that he would eventually use her own words against her somehow. "Where are you taking me?"

"Relax. We're just going one town over. You know, you don't have to be in control of everything all the time."

She nodded. "I know. But things are much easier if I am."

"Well, not tonight."

Caroline crossed her arms and pretended to pout. He chuckled softly at her actions, but he wouldn't tell her anything.

* * *

"This place looks nice." Caroline said as they sat down at the table the hostess showed them to. "Do you bring all your dates here?"

"So this is a date?"

"Well, a guy usually **asks** a girl on a date, not **commands** her, but those are just details, right?"

They laughed.

"So?" Caroline asked when he didn't speak again. "Do you?"

He chuckled; she was rather persistent. "No. I've never brought a date here."

"So where do you normally take your dates?"

He shrugged. "I don't, usually. Date, I mean. I rarely feel a connection with anyone, so I often spend most of my time alone. I'm more of a loner-type anyway."

She gasped in mock shock. "Really? I never would have guessed."

After they ordered, they sat in silence.

"Well?" Caroline said, expectantly.

He raised his eyebrow at her but didn't respond.

She sighed in frustration. "We're here. You wanted to talk. So talk."

"All right. I meant what I said earlier; I want to know more about you. Tell me about your hopes, your dreams. Everything you want in life."

Caroline laughed. "Just to be clear: I'm too smart to be seduced by you."

He smirked. "Well, that's why I like you."

She scoffed and shook her head.

"When should our next afternoon of skipping take place? And where?"

"Uh, never."

"Do I have to be in detention again, so you can break me out?"

"No! Don't you care about school?"

"No," he said plainly. "I don't need to attend because none of the teachers are going to fail me — no one wants to have me back next year."

Caroline rolled her eyes and paused to thank the waitress, who had brought their salads. She took an initial bite before continuing their conversation. "What about college?"

He shook his head. "Not going. Once I'm through with high school and have turned 18, I'm getting the hell out of this one-pony town. I want to see the world and all it has to offer. The great cities, the art, the music. I want to see it all."

Caroline didn't respond; she took another bite of her salad.

"Do you plan on going to college?" he asked her.

Caroline always immediately responded with a 'yes' whenever anyone asked her about that. But she found herself re-examining everything about herself the more time she spent with Klaus.

She shrugged. "I always thought so. It kind of feels expected of me."

"Forget about expectations. What do you want to do?"

She thought about that as she let out a long sigh. "I don't know. I really don't know." She looked up from her plate at him and took in his confused expression. "Time," she finally answered. "I guess I want more time to figure things out. To figure myself out."

"You could come with me, you know, to see the world. I'd take you wherever you wanted to go."

Klaus didn't know what possessed him to say such things to her, but he found that he didn't hate the idea of spending more time with her, after graduation and away from this town.

"What about your family? You have such a large one. You'd really just pack up and leave this town? Leave them?"

She watched as his jaw tightened. Speaking about his family was obviously a sore subject for him, but she had no idea why.

"Not exactly," he said through clenched teeth. "My older brothers left right after high school — it's practically a tradition in my family. And my younger siblings will be fine without me."

"What about your parents?"

Klaus didn't want to explain his relationship with his parents to Caroline, so he kept it short. "They'll be fine, too. Better, even, without me around."

"I doubt that."

"Doubt all you'd like, love, but you have no idea what you're speculating about."

"Then explain it to me."

He gave her a fake smile, one she should easily see through. "Another time, perhaps."

She gave him a fake smile of her own. "Would you tell me while we're travelling the world together?"

"Absolutely."

His answer was too immediate; she knew it was a lie.

"Do you want to see the world?"

"Of course," she responded. "Who doesn't?"

"I'm not asking about holidays, Caroline. There's a different between wanting to visit places and really seeing the world. Do you want to go off and experience everything you possibly can?"

It all sounded so wonderful when he spoke of it. He made her want it, too. But she also felt conflicted. "I'm… I'm not sure."

"Do you plan to spend your life here, in Mystic Falls?"

"I don't know."

"You are so much more than this town." As horribly clichéd as she felt for even thinking it, his gaze seemed to burn into hers. "My offer is open-ended, Caroline. You can accompany me anywhere, any time."

She scoffed. "I bet you say that to all the girls."

"No." He spoke with such sincerity that Caroline had to hold back an audible gasp. "You mark my words. A small town life won't be enough for you. One day, in a year or even in ten, you'll come to me. You'll find me because you want to explore the world with me."

Caroline rolled her eyes, partially because of what he said and partially to ignore how he said it and how it made her feel. She would do anything to ignore how she felt about his words. Would he really wait a decade, or possibly longer, for her?

The genuineness on his face made her shift her gaze instantly as if it could shake her wavering determination any second. She refused to let him see any of the emotions she was feeling. She set her fork down, finished with her food. "Wow. You **do** think you know me."

"As I said before, love, I'm just beginning to. But I'm enjoying the parts I know now."

Caroline rolled her eyes and looked away from him.

She heard him sigh. "Great cities, and art, and music. Maybe one day you'll let me show it all to you."

* * *

They didn't stay at the restaurant for dessert. Klaus drove Caroline straight home. It wasn't a silent drive, though; Caroline couldn't keep her mouth shut. She couldn't help it; she just didn't know him well enough to be comfortable all the time with silence when she was around him.

But she knew she needed to stop talking. "Are you close with all your siblings?" Caroline thought this might be a safe topic for discussion; she had noticed how he skirted around the subject of his parents, but he often had a softer, even warm, smile whenever he mentioned his siblings. She had wanted to press more, to find out about his parents, but she was afraid that if she did push, he could close up completely. Look what happened when she asked about his other dates? She had to pry that information from him.

"We are rather close in age, but we're not all terribly close-knit."

When he didn't elaborate, Caroline tried to think of a way to keep him talking. But he surprised her by doing so on his own.

She learned that, out of his siblings, he was closest with Rebekah, though claimed his brother Elijah as his closest friend. Elijah knows Klaus the best; he is almost always one step ahead of Klaus — either preventing him from sneaking out or stopping him before he could play a prank on Kol or Rebekah. Elijah was the one Klaus went to for advice, for things he didn't understand; Rebekah was the one he'd confess things to. He had never really been close with Finn, his other elder brother. And while he loved his younger brother Kol, he found him to be irritating and infuriating, which was why they could never be in the same room together for too long.

Caroline laughed as he pulled up outside of her house and turned off his truck; after unbuckling their seatbelts, neither of them made a move to leave.

"I told you about my family; tell me about yours" Klaus was embarrassed that he had spoken at such length about his siblings; he wasn't sure if he continued chatting because of the love he had for his siblings or because he enjoyed having Caroline listen to him. For one who speaks all the time, she was an incredible listener.

She shrugged. "There isn't much to say. I'm the only child of the town sheriff."

"What about your father?"

"He moved away when I was eleven, after he realized he was gay and no longer wanted to be married to my mom. He lives just a few towns over, but I barely see him anymore. He has a new life that I don't fit so neatly into."

"I can't imagine anyone not wanting you in his life."

He wasn't an expert on comfort, she knew, but she could tell that he was trying, and that had to count for something.

But she teased him anyway. "You're not just too biased, are you?"

"Not at all."

He moved closer to her. He cupped her cheek and brushed his thumb along her cheekbone, watching as her eyes searched his in anticipation.

He leaned in close, but instead of pressing his lips to hers in a kiss, he placed his lips on the pulse point of her neck. He smirked against her skin. "I like the small fluttering of your pulse. I can tell you're excited and anxious." He pulled away to show her that he wasn't going to push her or take advantage of the situation. He would go at her speed, do what she wanted.

Her body was hot all over. She had liked the way his lips felt on her neck, liked the smell of him, and she really liked how his body had been so close to hers. She licked her lips and leaned in, pecking his softly as he held her chin between his index finger and thumb.

He liked being kissed by her. He liked that her lips were sweet and soft. Caroline looked like she could use someone to get lost in, and Klaus wanted that very much to be him.

She kissed him back, her hands resting on his thighs. She kept the kiss sweet, too, turning her head to the side to open her mouth wider to him, moaning softly when she felt his tongue slide into her mouth.

It had been a long time since Caroline had kissed someone. And even then, it hadn't been like this with Tyler. There was something about Klaus that was drawing her in, making her want to lose herself inside of him, and help him to do the same.

He opened his eyes and she found herself getting lost in the deep blue.

She pulled back slightly, trying to regain her senses — she noticed that her mind clouded over whenever she was too close to him.

"Travelling the world with a boy I barely know?" She brought them back to his earlier proposition. "Sounds risky. And dangerous. And unwise."

"I would never let anything happen to you," he whispered. She closed her eyes as he inched closer and kissed her harder.

Caroline didn't know how to explain the emotions that came over her just then. Maybe she was getting a little lightheaded from their kissing and the inherent lack of oxygen, but she liked the way his words sounded territorial and predatory. It turned her on that he wanted to protect her, that he was promising to keep _her_ safe. Caroline was always taking care of everyone else in her world — she was the one who worked so hard to fix everything or to make sure things ran as smoothly as possible — but no one ever took the time to take care of her; no one ever even asked if she needed taking care of.

Klaus really was different from anyone she had ever known.

He ended the kiss, but remained close. She could feel his lips moving against hers when he spoke again.

"Go to the prom with me."

Caroline's smiled vanished as she sat up straighter and pulled away from him. "What?"

"Prom. Let's attend together."

She dropped her gaze and shifted so that they were no longer touching in any way. "Is that a request or a command?"

"Come on, love; go with me."

"No." She spoke with such determination.

His smirk faded quickly. "Why not?"

"Because I don't want to go."

"It could surprise you; it could live up to, or even exceed, your expectations."

She could feel her anger rising. _Why was he pushing this?_ "What's in it for you?"

Klaus sat silently and wasn't looking at her; Caroline didn't need any words from him to confirm her suspicions.

"So what has this been for you — all of this? Just so you could create a little drama? Start a new rumour, maybe? What, exactly?"

He scoffed. "So now I need a motive for being with you?"

"You tell me, because it kind of feels like you're going through a checklist. 'Meet up with her when she's out with her friends'; check. 'Get her to go to the party by the falls'; check. 'Get back in her good graces'; check. 'Take her to prom'; checkmark pending." She ticked off an imaginary agenda in front of her with her finger every time she said 'check.'

"You have issues. Did you know that?"

"Answer the question, Klaus!"

"Nothing! There is nothing in it for me. Merely the pleasure of your company." It was a lie, but now was not the time to start telling her the truth. Not about this.

Caroline wasn't buying it. "You know, I feel like every time we hang out, or whatever this is, that I'm spilling my guts to you, yet I know almost nothing about you." She backed away even further from him.

"You want to know where I was last year. Is that was all of this has been about for you?" Klaus was trying to control his temper, but he could feel the edges of the flames lapping up around him.

"No," she replied with a scoff. "But that is an excellent example of how you never open up to me. I feel like we've been spending all this time together, yet I hardly know you at all! You never tell me anything. You skirt around or just plain dodge anything even remotely personal."

He clenched his jaw to hold back the temper-driven words that wanted to come out; he settled for giving her a glare. "You know, this has been a fun evening, but I think it's time for you to get out of my truck."

She didn't move; she didn't even remove her gaze from his. "You were telling me how you never really feel connected to anyone and how you spend **so **much time by yourself. I get it now," she said with a slight nod. "It's so obvious: you don't connect with people because you don't even try to understand them." She opened the truck's door and got out. But just before shutting the door, she turned to face him again. "And here's a tip for you: if you want to connect with people, you actually have to open up. You can't just get by with charming and manipulating people. That's not how it works. You have to open up eventually." She turned, slammed the door shut, and walked around his truck to cross the street and enter her house. She never even gave him a glance-back. Or a chance to respond.

As Caroline walked away, Klaus realized that, apart from his family, no one had ever spoken to him with such honesty. Perhaps because they were scared or maybe because he just never let anyone speak that way to him.

Caroline sure knew how to leave an impression.

* * *

Klaus slammed his fist against the steering wheel.

From inside, Caroline watched his truck peel away from the curb outside her house and race down the street.

He couldn't get her words out of his head as he drove away from her house. "_You don't connect with people because you don't even try to understand them._"

She was right. He could admit that to himself; he could see the glaringly obviousness of her statement.

He was completely fine with not being close to anyone other than his siblings. He was better on his own — trusting people got you hurt, and he had been raised not to trust anyone.

Yet, he found himself wanting to connect with her. With Caroline. He wanted her to know about his past, but he was afraid that she would run.

Klaus's jaw clenched when he thought of how the arrogant Lockwood had described her as only 'decent-enough looking.' She was stunning, gorgeous, lovely, and radiant.

She was beautiful.

As he pulled up to a stop light and waited for the light to turn green, he glanced to his left and saw a drunken homeless man in the median who had apparently decided that he didn't need to wear pants today — it was an underwear-only sort of day for this chap.

Klaus pulled out his wallet, took the wad of money that Tyler gave him for the prom, and handed it to the homeless him.

"Find some trousers, mate."

The homeless man smiled at him.

When the light turned green, Klaus pulled away. The homeless man waved him off.

* * *

Elena, Caroline, and Bonnie spent that Wednesday evening together in Elena's bedroom; Caroline had a rare evening off because the prom committee was actually ahead of Caroline's schedule — pleasantly shocking and nearly unheard of. But Caroline was nothing if not organized, and she hoped to spread that organizational prowess to her committee members; it appears to have worked.

"Quick question, Care," Elena said. She was currently painting Bonnie's fingernails while Caroline was lying on her bed. "Are you going to the prom?"

"Ugh," Caroline groaned and threw her head into the pillow. _Again with the prom?_

"Sorry I asked," Elena muttered.

Caroline sighed and sat up. She really was being too dramatic. "Listen, I know you hate missing out and having to sit at home because I'm not Suzy High School, contrary to popular belief."

"I just want a night of teenage normalcy, Caroline. But our agreement stipulates that I can't go if you don't. And I don't want to end our friendship. But this is prom. You planned it, so we all know it will be amazing. And I want to go, but I can't because you don't feel like it." Elena said all that while painting the nails on Bonnie's left hand; she never looked up once.

"It's okay, Elena. If you want to end our deal, that's fine. It won't end our friendship. Seriously. That was a rather dramatic stipulation anyway. Go ahead; go out on a date. Go to prom. It's fine."

"And have you disappointed in me because I broke our deal? No way, Care."

"Elena—"

"No." Elena finally looked up, finished with the current coat of nail polish on Bonnie's hands. "I promised I wouldn't date until graduation unless you did, and I intend to keep that promise."

Caroline narrowed her eyes, only slightly, at her friend. "Are you trying to guilt-trip me into going?"

Elena shrugged and tried to look innocent. "Maybe?"

"Sorry, Elena. Even if I wanted to go, the one guy who asked me will never actually go with me now."

"What do you mean?" Bonnie asked, looking up from inspecting Elena's work on her nails. "Are you talking about Klaus?"

Caroline nodded, not looking at either of her friends. "He asked me and I blew him off, but not before making some horrible accusations about him."

"I'm sure it's not unfixable," Bonnie said, trying to comfort her friend.

She shook her head softly. "I'm not so sure." She gave a tiny shrug. "But I can't go to prom now, anyway. There isn't enough time to shop for the perfect dress."

"We'll help you look for one, Care."

She shook her head at her friends. "I'll pass. But seriously, Elena. Go. Tell Damon 'yes,' and go have fun." She did her best to smile a genuine smile for her friend.

* * *

"Did you ask her?"

Klaus clenched his jaw. "Yes."

"And?"

"And nothing. She refused me."

Klaus was sitting at the Grill Wednesday evening, still thinking about Caroline's words. "_You have to open up eventually._" He was still contemplating her suggestion when Matt and Stefan cornered him and joined him. Most unwelcome.

"What happened?"

"The details are neither important nor any of your business. The point is: she won't go. I've failed."

"So you give the money back to Tyler. No big deal. You tried."

Klaus's eyes darkened. "I can't give it back. There is no more money; it's gone."

"You spent it all?! On what?"

"It doesn't matter. It's gone and I'm screwed."

"Or you could try again," Matt spoke up.

"What?"

"Try a different approach with Caroline," he suggested. "What do you have to lose?"

"My dignity," Klaus muttered.

"Your dignity won't help you with Tyler. Or Caroline."

When Klaus didn't say anything, Matt continued. "Dude, I mean it: try again. Go for something super cheesy and romantic. She may roll her eyes at it, but she will definitely love it. Trust me."

While he didn't disagree with Matt, Klaus had no idea how to be romantic. Sure, some people may view his art as romantic, but he already knew how to draw. Was he supposed to learn how to recite poetry for Caroline? That went far beyond the reaches of his deal with Lockwood.

Klaus groaned. "You may be correct, Donovan. But stop referring to me as 'dude.' " Matt nodded, quickly. "How am I supposed to know what she'll appreciate as a romantic gesture? Do I look like I know anything about romance?!"

"Is all of the money gone, or just most of it?" Stefan was asking Klaus the question, but he was focused on the phone in his hands.

"Does it matter?"

"Possibly." Stefan held up his phone. "I just received a text from Elena and I have an idea."


	9. Chapter Eight: A Magical Night

Chapter Eight – A Magical Night Under the Stars

* * *

"What are you up to, brother?"

Stefan had just hung up on Matt, mid-sentence; he had called Matt to see if he knew anything about whether Caroline accepted Klaus's second invitation to prom; neither knew anything. But when Damon walked into the room, he all but threw his phone away from him. "What do you mean?" Stefan asked, trying to feign ignorance. Or innocence.

But Damon knew his younger brother well enough to see through his act. "I mean, you're acting dodgy and all conspiratorial-like. What's up?"

"Nothing. You're just paranoid."

"You have secret, hushed phone calls that abruptly end when I walk in the room, but it's just me being 'paranoid'? No. Out with it, Stef. Why are you being so secretive?"

"There's nothing to say, Damon."

Damon could see through every word that was coming out of his brother's mouth. Stefan wouldn't even look in Damon's direction.

"And you're a terrible liar, Stefan."

Stefan sighed. He had always been rather close with Damon; too close, apparently, for him to get anything by his brother. "Okay! Okay. I've been working with a few people to help you with Elena."

"You what?"

Stefan finally faced his brother. "Not help you, exactly. Help her. I found a guy for her friend so Elena can spend time with you, outside of school, without breaking her deal with Caroline."

"You what?" Damon was too stunned to say anything else.

The look on Damon's face made Stefan feel guilty about his actions. He immediately shifted into explanation mode. "I was just trying to help. I had hoped that if things were going well with Elena, you would stop hating me and dad for wanting to come here."

Damon momentarily ignored the part about Stefan wanting him to be happy, and focused on the outrageousness of this idea. "How could you possibly think this was a good idea, Stefan? Forcing some guy to spend time with Caroline so I can date Elena? That's sick!"

"I was trying to help."

"Help?"

"And Klaus wasn't forced; he willingly participated."

Damon's skepticism was so very plainly written on his face. "Define willingly."

Stefan's face fell. Perhaps 'willingly' wasn't exactly the most appropriate word. "We got Tyler Lockwood to pay him." He mumbled that bit, but Damon heard it very clearly.

"There was money involved?! Stefan, have you lost your mind?! You're now pimping out a girl so I can date her friend? That's disgusting."

Stefan groaned slightly; that had most definitely never been his intention. "You're making it sound worse than it is."

"Am I? Because I don't think so. You get a guy to pay another guy to get Elena's friend out of the way. That is wrong on **so** many levels. And how did you get Tyler to agree to pay for this?"

Stefan blushed and avoided Damon's gaze.

"Stefan! How?"

"We never promised him anything…"

"But?"

The look on Stefan's face made Damon wonder if maybe he didn't actually want to know. But all or nothing, right?

"Tyler has his sights set on Elena for his next conquest."

"What?"

"We knew nothing would come of it, because she likes you, but we needed some sort of motivation for Klaus. And neither Matt nor I could afford to bribe him. So we brought in Tyler as a brainless backer."

Damon didn't even know where to begin berating Stefan for his idiocy. "Is there anyone you haven't lied to or kept something from during this endeavour?"

"I…" Stefan tried, but he couldn't answer that question.

"Wow!" The stupidity of everyone involved stunned Damon. He couldn't find any words to properly express what he was feeling. "Just wow."

And so he wouldn't have to listen to any more of Stefan's explanations or reasonings, Damon just shook his head and left their family room.

* * *

Caroline spent the entire day before the prom with her fellow committee members. They were decorating. It was exhausting, but they had finished. And the place looked pretty great, if Caroline did say so herself.

She arrived at home just around dinner time that evening, and she was texting Dana some last-minute instructions regarding prom decorations — mostly things to check on or attend to during the prom, since Caroline herself would not be attending — when she heard a knock at her door. She left her bedroom, but she didn't see anyone through the window in the front door.

She set her phone down on the table near the door and opened the door anyway. She found a dark brown box with a white ribbon sitting on the doormat. On top of the box sat one stiletto. She recognized it immediately; it was one of her own shoes — it was from the pair she had worn when she was crowned as Miss Mystic Falls a few months earlier.

She glanced around, but saw no one. Confused, she bent down and grabbed the shoe. Underneath it laid one single, long-stemmed red rose. She picked it up, as well as the envelope that it was resting upon. Her name, in cursive lettering, was all that was written on the envelope.

She opened it and found a note inside, written on a piece of parchment.

_I've heard talk of a grand ball, one that takes place every year.  
This year's event happens this evening.  
I wish to attend, but I have no one to take as my match._

_If this shoe fits, will you please be my date?_

And instead of a signature, the note ended with a phone number.

After rereading the note, Caroline brought the rose in her hand up to her nose. She smiled as she inhaled its sweet scent.

But she was still shocked. And confused. She stared at the note for another moment, unable to fully comprehend its meaning. Then she picked up the box, balanced the shoe on top, and took them into her bedroom.

She put the box down on her bed and opened it. She let out a small gasp of shock when she saw the box's contents: inside it, she found a stunning blue dress. The bodice appeared to be form-fitted; it was embellished with silver beading and it had simple tulle straps. The attached skirt was blue and silver tulle, floor-length and flowy. It was simply perfect and stunning. It had a note of its own, in that same cursive lettering:

_-In case you change your mind.  
Save me a dance._

_Fondly,  
Klaus_

Caroline was rendered stunned and speechless.

* * *

After Klaus left the invitation and the dress for Caroline on her front porch, he stood nearby, hidden by the trees that lined her property, and watched to make sure she received them. He smiled at her stunned expression.

Once Caroline had taken the box inside, he left.

He woke up early the next morning. He had one more task to complete before prom. He drove straight there, as the sun was rising, and easily picked the lock on the door — he never said his **entire** reputation was unwarranted or undeserving.

It was the day of the prom and, as per Caroline's orders, the committee had finished decorating yesterday. (Since most of them were attending the prom, Caroline wanted them to have the day off to prepare themselves, and not to spend that time preparing the venue — she may not have planned to go, but she didn't want to be a dictator about what the other prom committee members did on the day of.)

He found it ironic that he never went to school functions, yet here he was, over twelve hours early, at the location of where the prom would take place. And he could potentially be here tonight as well. It felt oddly like he was turning into an overachiever.

Even without any of the lights on and just the early morning sunlight streaming in, Klaus could tell that the place looked great. He saw bunches of fabric hanging near the walls in strategic places to create a soft and intimate feeling; there were two large chandeliers hanging from the ceiling; there were several round tables with chairs that encircled a large area cleared for dancing; he noticed a slightly-raised platform off to the side with a banner behind it that read 'Mystic High 2013.' Klaus didn't know much about proms, but he assumed that was where attendees would pose for photographs.

He smirked when he saw one of the spotlights that had become the bane of Caroline's existence as of late. He left them alone and quickly got started on his task. He easily found a tall ladder, and with it, he began to do his own decorating. He took his time, knowing he wouldn't be disturbed and wanting everything to be perfect.

He couldn't wait to see Caroline's reaction.

Just as he finished, his phone rang. It was Caroline.

"Hello, sweetheart."

"_Hi._"

He knew why she was calling — he had loitered around her house just long enough to make sure she had received the invitation and the dress— but he asked her anyway.

"_I, uh, I've changed my mind. About prom._"

"You've decided to attend?"

"_Yes._"

"And do I get the pleasure of escorting you?"

"_No. I'm going on my own._" The cocky smirk faded from his face at her words. But before he could comment, she spoke again."_But should we meet up while there, well, that wouldn't be too terrible. That is if you attend as well._"

He smiled at that. "I'll see you there, Caroline."

* * *

Caroline drove herself to the prom. She wore the dress Klaus had sent her — it was gorgeous, after all, and it would be a shame to waste it. She paired it with a light, near-white shawl. Her hair was pulled back into a low side bun. And she wore a different pair of shoes that the one he had used with the invitation. She was curious as to how he obtained one of her shoes — she should probably be worried or creeped out, but honestly, she was just impressed.

She got out of her car. She strolled through the parking lot, making her way to the entrance, when she noticed Klaus; he was sitting on the main steps, presumably waiting for her.

As she walked towards him, Klaus noticed that she had cut the rose's stem quite short and was now wearing it as an accessory in her hair, just by her left ear.

"You didn't have to wait for me," she said once she was only a step or two away from him. "We're not here **together**, remember?"

He rolled his eyes and ignored her words. _As if he'd enter the prom on his own._ "You look ravishing, love."

She dropped her gaze down to her dress for a moment. "Well, I didn't really have time to shop. Where did **you** get a dress?" She looked back at his face, giving him an almost accusatory look.

He shrugged. "I have my ways."

"And the tux?" Which he looked amazing in.

"Oh, the tux is mine. I always have my formal wear at the ready; one never knows when a beautiful woman will agree to accompany him." He winked at her.

She scoffed before catching his gaze with hers. "I'm sorry I questioned your motives. I was wrong."

He winced slightly, but covered it with a smile before she could notice. "It's not a problem, love."

"And I'm not accompanying you; we're just in the same place, at the same time."

She noticed then that he was still sitting on the steps. She found that she was fidgeting, so she stopped herself.

Klaus stood and stared at Caroline, taking in her image appreciatively. She blushed and turned away from him slightly. "Shall we?" he asked.

She let out a breath and gave a quick nod. "Let's get this over with?"

He gave a nod of his own and approached her, offering her his arm. She smiled and took it. They ascended the stairs and entered the prom together. It was in full swing at this point in time.

Caroline was actually glad to see the outcomes of all the hard work she put into planning and decorating.

"Wow," Klaus said while looking at the scene before him. "The decorations aren't nearly as cheesy as I was imagining."

"Thanks?" She chuckled. "I don't know; it's still rather ostentatious for my tastes. But it is prom, and the entire dance committee tends to go overboard with prom. Even if I was out-voted on some aspects."

"The last hoorah?"

"I suppose."

Caroline stepped forward and looked around the room. She spotted Bonnie and Jeremy dancing and gave then a wave. She noticed Elena and Damon dancing together on the other side of the dance floor. She smiled at them, but they didn't notice her. Or anyone else.

"Does everyone pair up for prom?" he asked, nearly disgusted.

She shrugged. There were lots of couples here. "Prom is the Noah's Ark of high school dances, if there ever was one."

They moved further into the area, away from the entrance.

She was just about to ask if wanted to dance when he spoke. "I'll get us some drinks; why don't you have a seat, love."

He stepped away from her without waiting for a response. _This was becoming a habit of his._

She shook her head at his retreating form, but did as he 'suggested.' She found an empty table that wasn't near any of the other prom committee members. She liked the idea that she could attend an event without having to work at it; she didn't want to concern herself with any of the issues that may arise or be involved in any way in overseeing whether things were running smoothly or not.

Klaus found her and brought the drinks.

As they sat there, making idle chit chat — mostly Caroline — and sipping their drinks, Caroline noticed that Klaus was checking his watch every few minutes.

_He can't want to leave already, can he? Being here was his idea!_

He checked his watch again, the final time, and saw that it was just over a minute from the predetermined time. He smirked at stood. "Shall we dance?"

She didn't know what to think. First he appears to be annoyed and bored; now he wanted to dance? She could not keep track.

He noticed her hesitation. "Come on, love. One dance." He extended his hand out towards her and smirked again. "I won't bite."

A slow song was playing. Once they were on the dance floor, Klaus kept a hold of Caroline's hand, and snaked his other hand around her waist. She placed her free hand on his shoulder.

As they were dancing, another set of lights came on. Caroline was outraged at first; _this was not supposed to happen._ But then she really looked at these lights. These were small, soft twinkling lights and they stretched across the entire ceiling of the ballroom.

She stopped moving completely, stunned.

"Is it how you imagined it could be?" Klaus whispered into her ear. "Is it similar enough to dancing under the stars?"

His words broke Caroline out of her stupor. She tore her eyes away from the lights on the ceiling and took in his rather large smirk. "What did you do?"

He shrugged and pulled her closer to him as he resumed their dance. "I broke in last night and did some of my own decorating."

She couldn't believe that. "Seriously?"

He nodded. "They're hooked up to a separate power source, so even if they want to, your committee members cannot turn them off. But I don't think they will want to."

She pulled her gaze from the lights to look at him, but he was looking at the people surrounding them. She shifted her gaze to follow his, and noticed that everyone around them was looking at the second set of lights that had just turned on.

She noted, rather smugly, that everyone else seemed to love dancing under the twinkling lights as well; even the prom committee members who had joined Dana to over-rule her.

"This looks amazing," she said with a nod. "Almost as good as if I had hung them myself."

They both laughed.

"Thank you, Klaus. It looks beautiful."

He brought his gaze back to her. "Yes, it is almost as beautiful as you."

* * *

Elena was so happy to be at the prom with Damon. They had been dancing ever since they arrived, and were completely oblivious to everyone else around them. She pulled back, only to lean in and whisper in his ear. He nodded and they parted ways. Damon went to get them some punch while Elena headed for the ladies' room.

Inside, Elena was checking her hair and touching up her makeup in the mirror — along with five other girls — when one of the bathroom stall opened and Vicky Donovan emerged.

"Vicky," Elena said, trying to hide her surprise as Vicky stopped in front of the sink right next to where Elena was standing. Vicky could hardly stand; she was obviously drunk. "I never expected to see you here." _Especially since you graduated last year_, Elena thought but didn't say.

Vicky was checking her hair as she spoke with a snooty tone. "I'm here with Tyler."

She always was Tyler's old reliable.

"Good for you," Elena replied with the best fake smile she could muster. All she could think about was how Tyler had hit Caroline and then hopped into bed with Vicky. It made her stomach churn. No wonder Caroline hadn't told her when she was still dating Matt.

"I know you have a thing with Tyler, but he's mine tonight."

Elena stopped her primping and turned to stare at Vicky, doing nothing to hide the shock on her face. "I don't have a thing with Tyler; he's my friend."

"Whatever," Vicky replied with a slight slur. "You should know that Tyler only liked you for one reason. He practically announced it to all of his friends. He was going to nail you tonight."

Appalled, Elena fled the bathroom. Yes, she knew — from Caroline — that Tyler was only looking to score, but it still stung and left a horrible taste in her mouth to hear those words from Vicky Donovan, of all people.

* * *

As Elena rushed over to be consoled by Damon, Tyler walked around the dance floor. Vicky quickly found him and latched onto his arm. She could hardly stand, and as he moved around, she clutched on and trailed drunkenly beside him.

His gazed zeroed in on Elena — with Damon — and Tyler was furious!

* * *

One dance quickly turned into two, then four, and then who knows how many. Caroline stopped caring, and Klaus stopped tensing up at the end of each song, waiting for her to pull away from him.

But when another soft, slow song began, Klaus pulled away slightly. "I need to tell you something, love."

Caroline's eyes widened slightly, but she remained silent. Was she finally getting some answers or some information? She dare not speak a word, for fear of scaring him off or send him back into his usual silence.

"Caroline, I…" He paused, searching for the right words. _Where to begin?_

Now was definitely not the time to tell her about the money and Tyler and all that, but he could be honest with her about **some**thing. "About my past… I know you have questions."

He paused; he was still not sure how to begin his tale. But he didn't have to think about it long.

"Yes. But I don't care," Caroline said with a slight shake of her head. She could see how hard this was on him — for him to even begin to tell her about it. So she decided to give him a reprieve.

He gave her a confused look.

"I mean, I do care, and I want to know, but I don't… I mean — Ugh!" she groaned. She was making no sense at all.

She took a deep breath and tried again. "What I'm trying to say — and failing horribly at — is that your past is **your** past. It was before I came into your life; it doesn't concern me and I cannot change it." She raised her hand up to rest it alongside his face. "So I won't ask about it anymore. When you want me to know, I will gladly listen, of course, but I won't make any more attempts to pry the information from you. Your past is in the past; I'm part of your present. And your future as well."

Klaus wanted to say thank you, but those words seemed insufficient. So he kissed her. He pressed his lips to hers and he poured everything he was feeling into that action.

He may not have the eloquence to say what he felt, but he hoped she would understand, and know, through his kiss.

Once they parted, Klaus was going to say 'thank you.' But just as he opened his mouth to utter those two important words, he felt a hand on his shoulder and it tugged him backwards. He turned, quite angry. When he saw whose hand was on his shoulder, it did nothing to dissipate his anger at the interruption — if anything, it only increased. It was Tyler.

Tyler stepped forward, closer to Klaus. "What is Elena doing here with that cheese dick? I didn't pay you to take out Care so some smooth-talking new guy could snake in and steal Elena away from me."

Klaus shoved Tyler away from him and turned back to face Caroline. She was definitely within hearing range of Tyler's voice, and, judging by the glare that now covered Caroline's beautiful face, she had heard every word that came out of Tyler's mouth.

She looked between Klaus and Tyler; she wasn't sure what she was hearing. "Nothing in it for you, huh?"

Tyler stepped around Klaus; now Klaus had both Caroline and Tyler in his sight at the same time. "No worries about that one, man," he told Klaus, nodding and gesturing in Caroline's direction. "She'll only spread her legs for you once, anyway. Just so you know."

Tyler didn't even have the time to smirk at his jab towards Caroline before Klaus's fist connected with his jaw. Tyler lost his footing from the force of Klaus's punch and landed on the ground.

Klaus quickly ignored him and turned back to Caroline.

But she ran off, wanting to get out of this place; Klaus took off after her.

Tyler stood, straightened his tux and touched his jaw lightly, wincing at even the lightest of touches. Then he marched straight over to Damon and Elena. He quickly invaded Damon's personal space.

"You are in big trouble, man." Tyler was nearly seething.

"What are you talking about?" Damon hadn't had much interaction with Tyler Lockwood since he had moved to town, and he did not want to start now. Not when he could be — and should be — dancing with Elena.

"You're here with Elena? Really?"

"Yea, we are. So leave us alone." Damon motioned with his hands to shoo Tyler away.

Tyler stepped even closer, really getting his face up into Damon's. "You know, you've messed with the wrong guy, dude."

"'Dude'? Really? 'Dude'?" Damon couldn't help but think, _How immature is this guy?!_

"Now, you're gonna pay. You and that little bitch."

"Watch it!" Damon all but yelled. "You're crossing a line, now."

Tyler just smirked and shot his hands out in front of him, shoving Damon. Damon shrugged it off, trying not to let Tyler get to him any more than he already had when he insulted Elena. He knew why Tyler was pissed that he was here with Elena and not Tyler himself, but that didn't give the Lockwood boy free reign to be an ass.

Tyler punched him. His punch didn't have the same force as Klaus's — Damon remained on his feet — but Tyler's fist still made contact with Damon's cheek. Damon quickly responded with a fist of his own.

Elena quickly intervened before Tyler could attempt to throw another punch; she stepped in between the two guys, turned to Damon, and pushed him back, further away from Tyler. "He's not worth it, Damon."

"No, but what he said about you definitely justifies it." Damon was looking over Elena's head, at Tyler, as he spoke.

"You're right." Elena dropped her hands from Damon's chest and turned back to face Tyler. She took a few steps towards him and slapped him. Hard.

"That is for punching my date."

She slapped him again. "That's for Caroline."

And then she took another step forward, placing her hands on his shoulders right as she lifted her knee, bringing it up to connect with his groin. "And that is for me."

Elena pushed against his shoulders and Tyler went down for the second time in almost as many minutes.

But this time, he remained on the ground, curled into a fetal position.

Elena quickly returned to Damon. "Are you all right?" She began inspecting his cheek.

He smiled and nodded. "Never better."

* * *

Caroline raced down the stairs, trying to make it out of this place and into her car.

"Caroline, wait." She could hear Klaus's steps; she didn't need to hear his voice to know that he was behind her.

When she didn't stop, or respond, Klaus gained on her and grabbed her arm, bringing her to a stop.

She spun around and spoke before he could utter another sound. "You were paid to take me out?! By my lying, cheating, abusive ex-boyfriend?! That's beyond disgusting!" Caroline sighed. "I should have known this was a set-up."

"It wasn't like that," he said with a slight groan. Not that he expected her to believe any words that came out of his mouth.

"Oh, really? What was it like, then? Did you get paid half now and then the remainder once you sealed the deal and slept with me?"

"I didn't care about the money, okay! I cared — I cared about you." He tried to pull her closer, as if proximity would somehow make her see the truth behind the words he spoke.

"You are **so** not who I thought you were." The look on Caroline's face told Klaus that she was more hurt than angry right now. "You and Tyler totally deserve each other."

"Tyler Lockwood is scum. He's a self-righteous dick who never deserved you. And he's never deserved anything that he got. Until now."

She knew it was wrong, but a part of her enjoyed the idea of Tyler walking around with a black eye or a busted lip. Or both.

But she couldn't let that distract her. "He doesn't deserve me, but you think you do after what you've participated in?" She didn't wait for an answer; she took a few steps backwards and turned away from him.

"No, Caroline, please wait."

"Screw you," she spat back at him. "Leave me the hell alone. I can't even look at you."

She turned around again, attempting to walk away, but he grabbed her arm, spinning her around and pulling her back until she was pressed up against his chest. He caressed her face his with hand and leaned down, kissing her lips very lightly.

She was shocked at the feel of his lips against hers, and she gave in for a second or two. She slipped her hands around his neck and pulled him down to meet her lips more fully. She opened her mouth, allowing his breath to mix with hers, as she ran her fingers along his scalp.

This kiss was different than their previous ones; this one was all hands and teeth and bruising lips, so hard and fast and desperate that she lost herself somewhere in the empty space where she ended and he began.

But then she remembered what just happened. She then pulled back, pushed him further away, and fled down the stairs and out of sight.

Elena stood at the top of the stairs, witnessing Klaus and Caroline's encounter. She had never felt more guilty in her entire life. She stood there, just long enough to watch Klaus slump his shoulders and leave, too.

She turned to go back inside; she was done with prom. After ruining Caroline's night, and maybe her life, Elena just wanted to go home. Damon understood and left with her immediately. Just as they walked out of the main doors and descended the stairs, they heard someone speaking into one of the microphones, about to announce the prom king and queen.


	10. Chapter Nine: The Backlash

Chapter Nine – The Backlash

* * *

The day after prom, Damon and Elena had a date. It wasn't officially called a date, since Caroline wasn't doing anything — Elena told Damon it was a 'non-date.' He picked her up in his car, but she requested that they make a stop at Caroline's first, before going to the Grill. She wanted to check up on her friend. Damon agreed. Elena found Caroline sitting on her front porch, staring at nothing in particular.

"I brought you a tea," Elena said. Caroline looked up at her friend, then noticed Damon sitting in his car, waiting for Elena.

She gave Elena a weak smile as she accepted the cup. "Thanks."

"Damon and I are going to the Grill to shoot some pool. You can come with us. It'll be fun."

Caroline shook her head. "No, I'm fine. Enjoy your date."

"It's not a date, Care. We're just hanging out, you know, as friends."

Caroline managed an actual smile at that. "Nice try, but you're definitely on a date."

Elena opened her mouth to speak, but Caroline stopped her. "It's okay, Lena. Go and have fun. We'll still be friends, I promise. We both know our 'agreement' has been over for a while. And it was pretty stupid to begin with."

Elena laughed, relieved.

"Look, I don't know if I ever thanked you for going to the prom, but it really meant a lot to me."

Caroline nodded. "I'm glad."

"You looked beautiful last night, Care."

"So did you."

Elena gave her friend a hug before leaving.

"Is she going to be okay?" Damon asked as Elena got back into his car.

"I think so." She gave him a slight nod. "Or, at least, I hope so. She's stronger than she realizes."

* * *

Sheriff Forbes came home an hour later. Caroline was still sitting on the front porch.

"Hey, sweetie."

"Hi, mom."

"I didn't see you at the prom last night."

Shocked, Caroline lifted her eyes up to her mother's face. "You were there?"

Liz nodded. "We were called in to break up a fight. Between Tyler Lockwood and Damon Salvatore."

_**Damon**__ and Tyler were fighting?!_

Caroline shrugged off her shock. "I must have left before the fight broke out."

Liz sat down next to her daughter. They weren't close enough to be touching, but they hadn't sat this close to each other for no apparent reason in a long time. "It appeared to be long over when we arrived; Damon wasn't even at the prom anymore."

"So you ended up making an appearance for nothing?"

Liz tilted her head slightly. "Not exactly. A lot of people recorded the fight on their phones, so we had tons of witnesses. It was very clear that Tyler instigated the fight; we had no need to speak with Damon, but we hauled Tyler down to the station."

"Was he arrested?"

The sheriff shook her head. "Just detained."

Even though she was hurt and angry, a part of Caroline was glad that Klaus's name was never mentioned; he didn't need to get into trouble over Tyler Lockwood.

"You two used to spend time together, didn't you?"

Caroline rolled her eyes. Of course her mother would remember something like that. "That was a long time ago, mom."

"Good. I don't want you hanging around someone who throws punches and instigates fights, Care."

"No worries there," she mumbled. She directed her attention back to her mother. "What'll happen to Tyler?" Caroline was pretty sure she already knew the answer, but she asked anyway.

"He has a few bruises. And he'll be suspended for a week. But other than that, he's basically off scot free, since his father is the mayor." Caroline nodded; that was what she had expected. "The suspension will go on his school record," her mother continued, "And it may affect his future football career."

"But probably not," Caroline said. Considering Tyler is a Lockwood, and with that family name comes money and a reputation, he will probably never face up to the bad deeds he has committed.

"Probably not," her mother agreed.

She noticed the look on Caroline's face. "I wish it were different, Care."

She met her mother's gaze and nodded. "I know you would do all you could."

Caroline shifted her gaze to the trees at the edge of their property. Why was it always the worst ones who got the easiest ride through life?

"I know we're not that close, sweetheart, but you know that I love you, right?"

Caroline looked at her mother, shocked again. They didn't have heart-to-heart moments like this. "Yea, mom. I know. I love you, too."

This was the closest moment these two had shared in years — maybe even ever.

* * *

Caroline was sitting alone in the cafeteria on Monday at lunch. Since prom — the final dance of the school year — was now over, the dance committee was disbanded and the members no longer had a need to be around her. Elena and Bonnie had gone off campus for lunch, but Caroline didn't feel like going with them.

She was working on her English assignment, jotting down some notes and ideas about how to rewrite Shakespeare's Sonnet, when someone sat down at her table. She expected Bonnie or Elena, back from lunch early perhaps, but was surprised to look up from her work and see it was neither one of them. It was Damon's little brother, Stefan.

"I'd like to express my apologies, Caroline." Stefan was so nervous about speaking with Caroline that he forgot to greet her first.

Caroline raised an eyebrow as she asked, "For what?" She had never spoken to Stefan Salvatore before, and those were odd first words that had just come out of his mouth.

"I didn't mean for you to get —" He paused, let out a breath, and tried again to speak the words he had rehearsed. "When I set out to find someone to date you so Elena could go out with my brother, I had no idea that it would turn out so… ugly. I'm really sorry, Caroline."

Caroline needed a moment to process his words. "Wait, did Elena ask you to find me a date?" She was truly hoping that his answer would be a 'no.' She didn't want to believe that her friend could be in any way involved in the embarrassment that she had experienced.

"Yea," he replied with a nod. He spoke more to his clasped hands, as they rested on the lunch table in front of him, than to Caroline. "I'm tutoring her and she mentioned how she needed to find someone for you to date so she could date and she thought maybe an outside opinion would …"Stefan trailed off when he glanced up and realized Caroline had picked up her books, shoved them into her bag, and was now storming out of the cafeteria, leaving only the remnants of her lunch behind her.

* * *

Bonnie and Elena had just arrived at the latter's locker, back from an off-campus lunch.

"So, you never told me why you and Damon left the prom so early."

"I just…" _Ruined Caroline's life? Messed up everything, hugely?_ Elena sighed, disappointed in herself and her actions, but also trying to find the appropriate words to let Bonnie know what she was feeling without telling her all the gory details. "…I just didn't want to be there anymore."

"You wanted more privacy, huh?" Bonnie raised her eyebrows and wiggled them suggestively.

"Not like that, Bon," Elena said with an eye roll. "I just wanted to go home. I was done with prom."

"Oh. Well, that was probably for the best, anyway. Things might have gotten awkward if you had stayed."

"Why?" Elena asked as she grabbed her History binder.

"You missed the crowning of king and queen." Bonnie said that in a particular way that made Elena think there was something more important here than the simple high-school-dance-coronation.

"How is that awkward? It happens at probably every prom everywhere."

"Yea, but not all winners are you and Matt."

"What?!" Her first thought was: _Me? They voted for me as Prom Queen?_ But her second thought was the one she gave voice to. "But we've been broken up for a few months; why would people still vote for us?"

"It wasn't a couple nomination; you were who they wanted for queen, and Matt was who they wanted for king. Separate entities." Bonnie gave a shrug as she thought of another possibility. "Either that, or your people think you two should get back together."

"My people?" Elena asked with a laugh. "It's not that kind of coronation."

Bonnie continued speaking as if Elena hadn't said anything. "It's not a huge stretch, though; the quarterback and the cheerleader as prom king and queen? Could this school be any more like a cheesy high school movie? I mean, really?"

They laughed, but before either could speak again, Elena's locker door suddenly slammed shut. Both girls jumped back a bit.

Caroline was suddenly next to them; she slowly removed her hand from the front of Elena's locker.

"Caroline!" Bonnie said as she jumped.

"What the hell?" Elena asked. "You could have taken off my hand?"

Elena froze when she saw that Caroline was livid. The blonde had her hands at her sides, curled into fists. She said nothing.

The bell rang then, but none of them moved an inch. Bonnie and Elena could see that Caroline wanted to speak with them. You don't spend practically your entire life with someone and not know how to read her body language.

Once the hallway was clear, Caroline spoke. "You set me up." She looked to Elena. "How could you?!"

"What?" Bonnie asked, genuinely confused.

"This isn't about you, Bonnie." Caroline kept her eyes on Elena.

Elena started to explain. "I just wanted —"

But Caroline was too angry for explanations, so she cut Elena off. "What? To completely damage me? To send me into therapy forever?"

"No!"

"Then what was your grand plan here, Elena?"

"I just—" Elena sighed. She wasn't sure how to explain this. It had gotten so out of hand.

When Elena didn't continue, Bonnie spoke up. She felt very out of the loop at the moment. "What do you mean 'set you up,' Care?"

She finally looked at Bonnie, but her face lost none of its anger. "She got Tyler to pay a guy to take me out just so she could date Damon Salvatore."

Now Elena was confused. "What?"

"Elena," Bonnie was shocked and disgusted. "You did that?"

Elena looked quickly to Bonnie. "No." Then she shifted her gaze to Caroline. "Care, I swear I had no idea about the money. I didn't even know Tyler was involved. I told Stefan and he said he'd look into it. He offered a new perspective on the student population."

"That was a bitchy move, Elena."

Elena ignored Bonnie and spoke only to Caroline. "I would never intentionally hurt you, Care. You have to know that. I'm so sorry. I never thought you would get hurt in all of this."

_Or you just never thought period, Elena._

_Or maybe you just didn't think about anyone except yourself._

Caroline crossed her arms and just stood there, not giving voice to her thoughts.

"Care?" Elena asked.

She snapped her head up. "Am I supposed to feel better now? Elena Gilbert apologizes and all is right in the world. Is that what you're expecting?" Elena didn't respond. "Well, too bad." She carefully and forcefully enunciated each word.

And without saying any more, Caroline walked away. She left the school and went home.

* * *

Rebekah walked by her older brother's open bedroom door shortly before dinner that evening, but stopped before she had walked by completely. She turned and stood in the open doorway, eying Klaus. "What are you doing here?"

He gestured to the room he was standing in. "This is my bedroom, Bekah."

She rolled her eyes at him, annoyed that he was being so literal with her. "Obviously, but you're never home when it is still daylight out."

He shrugged. "I'm being whimsical; I'm changing the norm."

She suddenly took notice of what he was wearing. "And what has you all dressed up?"

And it was true; he was. Sure, he wasn't sporting the tuxedo he had worn the other night for prom, but he was dressed up — or at least as dressed up as Klaus Mikaelson could get, without wearing a suit and tie. He had on black dress slacks, a white button-up shirt, and he was just in the midst of putting on non-combat-looking footwear.

He shrugged, trying to be nonchalant. "I'm going to talk to Caroline this evening."

"So she's speaking with you?"

"No, but I will make her listen."

Rebekah didn't know much about Klaus's latest drama — he couldn't tell his sister. But she did know that he had been spending time with some Caroline from their school. When Klaus returned home from the prom at a ridiculously early hour and looked so dejected, Rebekah had been concerned. But all she could pull from her brother was that he had done something foolish and it had driven Caroline away.

Rebekah didn't know the details, so she wasn't sure how to respond.

But Klaus hadn't been looking for a response from his sister. He hadn't even intended to say anything to her, but Rebekah had a way of making him speak; she could always make him open up, even when no one else could. Before he even realized, he had said more than he wanted her to know.

And now Caroline was avoiding him. Rightfully so, but it still hurt. She would occasionally give him a glare when their eyes would meet around school, but generally she just ignored his existence. He had tried to speak with her — on more than one occasion — but she would only speak to him long enough to tell him where to go.

But that kiss — at the prom; he could still feel her lips on his.

That kiss was the roughest kiss they had ever shared. It was pure desperation. She was walking away from him — out of his life — and he was scared to lose her. He didn't want to admit it, but he could see that now. He actually enjoyed spending time with her.

A part of Klaus — somewhere deep and foolish — kind of thought that if he could have found the best way to tell Caroline of the scheme and the money and everything — if he told her in such a way — she wouldn't hate him for it forever.

_What an idiot!_

Now she wanted nothing to do with him, right as he realized he wanted everything to do with her. He could not imagine returning to how things were before he made that stupid deal with Tyler because he never had anything to do with Caroline back then. Nothing at all.

(Oh, how things have changed.)

That kiss — that desperate and hopeful kiss — was Klaus trying to make up for his inability to say the right thing. He knew he could never say anything that would make her listen to him or not walk away from him, so he tried to show her through his actions, through that kiss.

But she pushed him away and left anyway.

"Oh." His sister's voice brought Klaus out of his head and into the present with Rebekah. "You'll make her listen to what?"

"Everything," he said, more to himself that to his sister. He was still largely caught up in his own thoughts. "I plan on telling her everything."

"Everything? Really? Is that wise, Nik?"

He caught his sister's gaze with his own. "You know everything about me and you still like me."

"That's different." She gave him a look. "I'm your sister; I'm stuck with you. But this Caroline is probably not like me. This could scare her off, even more so than whatever foolish thing you did to her on prom night. Which, by the way, was an incredibly lame evening for you to choose to be an ass."

Klaus sighed; she **was** right about the truth pushing Caroline away. She wouldn't want to know about his crappy personal life. But it was a part of him, and she had said that he never opens so; this would definitely be him opening up and being honest — he'd never told his story to anyone before.

Klaus gave his sister a quick nod. "I think I have to take that risk, Bekah."

He left the house then, before she could talk him out of it and before their father came home.

* * *

Caroline was still fuming with anger that night. She was angry with Elena, with Klaus, with Stefan, with Damon, with Tyler, and with whoever else was involved. But mostly, she was angry with herself for falling for everything and playing right into their stupid plan. She couldn't focus on her homework, so she left the house and found herself at the Grill. She would angrily shoot some pool, or maybe see if an oblivious bartender would give her a drink.

She needed something to help her calm down.

She entered and walked straight over to the bar. She saw an open section at the far end and bee-lined for that spot. But just as she reached the bar, she heard her name spoken with a very familiar accent.

"Caroline."

She halted her steps and turned to see Klaus standing there, leaning slightly against the bar.

"Oh, it's you." She tried to act cool and distant, not angry and annoyed.

"Join us for a drink?"

That was when Caroline noticed Klaus was not alone. He was standing next to another guy, one she'd never seen before. He wore a smirk that was eerily similar to the one she'd seen several times on Klaus's face. This must have been his brother, Kol.

Caroline instantly and internally reprimanded herself for remember something so specific about Klaus.

She gave Klaus her best I-hate-you smirk and said, "I'd rather die of thirst, but thanks." She turned on her heels and walked out of the Grill.

_I guess I won't find my anger-relief here_, Caroline thought bitterly to herself as she left.

Klaus watched Caroline walk away from him. True, he had left his house this evening hoping to speak with her. But he stopped at the bar first, for some liquid courage. Then Kol decided to tag along. But now, having seen more of Caroline's anger in person made, he was even more hesitant to speak with her again. He wanted to, but he wasn't ready.

"So that is the lovely Caroline? She is certainly stunning, brother," Kol said, drawing Klaus's attention away from the door Caroline had exited through.

"What are you going on about?" Klaus was unaware that Kol knew about him and Caroline.

"Oh, don't think I haven't noticed your actions lately, brother. And I may have been within hearing distance when you returned from the prom the other night."

Klaus rolled his eyes. _Little eavesdropper._

"But you'd better be careful, Nik. You might actually be smitten over this girl."

"Hardly," Klaus said with a scoff.

"Don't bother lying to me, brother; you're rather transparent."

Klaus ignored his brother's words. They were only a taunt. Kol loved to press buttons.

Not that it matter, anyway, whether he was falling for her — which he was not —because she very clearly hated him and wanted nothing more to do with him.

He would admit that he was fascinated with her, though. Caroline was unlike any woman he'd ever met: she was fiery and smart and kind and considerate — though she did have her selfish moments; she was also driven and refined. And she was rather enigmatic to him: there were moments where he could easily read her and know just what she was thinking, but then there were moments when she put up such strong walls around her that he wondered if he could ever breach them. (It also sounded rather familiar to him; he knew the word 'guarded' could be used to describe him as well.) She was becoming familiar, yet she was still very much a mystery to him.

And she was complex; she had a complexity about her that pulled him in, no matter how hard he fought against it.

Without even fully realizing it, Klaus left Kol at the bar and followed where Caroline had disappeared through the Grill's main entrance doors. He was going after her.

Luckily for him, she had only just made it into Mystic Square, which was right across the street from the Grill. He easily gained on her.

"Caroline!"

"Are you serious?" She didn't even stop or turn around to face him as she spoke. "Take a hint."

He was in-step with her, but he remained behind her, letting her lead. "Don't be angry, love. We had a little spat. I'm over it already."

"Well I'm not. That was hardly a **little** spat."

He groaned inwardly. He should have known she would make this difficult for him. "How can I acquit myself?"

This time, finally, she did stop and turn to face him. "You can't; just leave me alone."

He offered his counter-proposal. "Hear me out."

"No!" She pivoted and resumed walking away. "Seriously, just go away. I don't want to hear your apologies."

He continued following her step for step. "Good, because I wasn't planning to apologize."

"What?" Caroline stopped walking, giving Klaus the opportunity to step in front of her and hold her gaze.

"While it is unfortunate that we met because of Tyler Lockwood's direct influence, I'm not sorry." He tilted his head lower. "I never would have spoken a word to you otherwise. And now I cannot imagine wanting to not speak with you, or to hear your voice, or even merely to see your face. I'm not sorry."

Caroline was too stunned to respond.

"Caroline, I'm trying here. I miss spending time with you."

She rolled her eyes. "That sounds like bull."

"Well it's not!"

"Prove it."

Now he was confused. "Prove what, exactly?"

"Prove that you want to spend time with me because of me— or because of you— and not because of the money, because right now I'm seriously doubt—"

Caroline had started to turn away she spoke about her doubt. Klaus watched as she began to turn.

Was this really how it's going to be then? Was he so unable — or perhaps unwilling — to explain the motivation behind his actions to her, of all people, that he was going to let her walk away from him? He was always telling her to take a chance; he now realized that he needed to take his own advice.

_Screw it!_

Before she had completely turned away from him, he reached out and grabbed her by the elbow, spinning her around. She stopped speaking, mid-word. She looked down at his hand on her arm and back up at him just in time to feel his lips press against her own.

Her head was spinning as his mouth devours hers, and she sank deeper into the kiss, parting her lips and inviting his tongue to meet hers. They mingled together. He wrapped his arm around her waist and ran his other hand through her hair, pulling her closer so their bodies fit together.

Caroline moaned into his mouth, as welcomed vibrations rumbled through her body. She could get used to being kissed like this. Aggressive but soft as well, as he kissed her fiercely and held her tightly.

But eventually she pulled back, panting a little, and she shoved him away from her. She was no longer within his reach.

"There is no money now, Caroline. Yet here I am, facing your wrath and risking bodily harm in the process. So how exactly do you expect me to prove it any other way?" He was beyond frustrated, but he tried to hold his emotions in check.

"I don't know," she replied with a shrug. "Maybe you can't."

"What are you expecting here, Caroline? Grand gestures that make you swoon, like something you'd watch at the cinema?" He stepped closer to her, intimidatingly so. "This is real life, Caroline; stop playing out fantasies in your head, because no one can live up to that. Or is that the point?" he asked with a tilt of his head. "Do you purposely set up these illusions that no mortal can live up to so everyone can only disappoint you, further proving your points to yourself?"

He didn't pretend not to see the shock and then the hurt expressions cross her face.

But this was how he reacted. It was his defence mechanism. He was hurt, so he lashed out, trying to make her pain worse than his. And now he had hurt the only girl he truly cared for with his carelessly spoken words. It was cruel of him, and he shouldn't have done it. Who else did she have, really?

Elena, who was in on the plan, who was the reason there was a plan at all?  
Bonnie, who was ignorantly unaware of what was happening with either of her friends?  
Stefan, the one who had orchestrated the entire endeavour?  
Matt, the supposed life-long friend who willingly gave information about her and wanted to be second-in-command on all this idiocy?

She had no one, Klaus realized. Caroline was alone.

"Yes, Klaus. Bravo! You have me all figured out now, don't you. I **so** love it when nothing happens how I had envisioned it. I enjoy setting up these standards that no one can fulfill because I enjoy being lonely!"

Her anger, and her volume, stunned Klaus into silence.

She scoffed. "If you believe any of that, then you really don't know me at all."

She was shocked that those words had come out of her mouth. This was what happened when she let her anger have too much free reign.

She didn't want to say anything else that she might come to regret later, so she turned and walked away. But as she left, she saw — rather than noted — that his hands were clenched into fists at his sides.

Klaus watched Caroline leave; then he turned around and went back to the bar. He definitely needed another drink.

"I must say, Nik," Kol said with a smirk, by way of greeting, when Klaus returned to the bar. "You have changed in the short time you've spent with her. You're less broody and less of a loner and — dare I say it? — cheerier, even." He smirked.

Klaus rolled his eyes. "How would you know? You never take your attention away from yourself long enough to notice those around you."

Kol laughed. "I've noticed that being in a relationship suits you."

"Relationship," Klaus snorted. He furrowed his brow. "I believe the drink is going to your head, brother." He took a sip of his drink. "Or, you've actually lost your mind as we've been speculating all these years."

"You aren't going to admit it, are you?" Kol realized with a scoff. He sighed and shook his head as his older brother refused to look up from his glass.

Before Kol could tease Klaus any more, Rebekah joined them.

"Why do you two get to drink and I don't?" she asked, with her hands on her hips. _Ever the cheerleader._

"Because we're older."

"Oh shut up, Kol. You're barely even a year older than I am."

Kol scoffed. "My age is still one number larger than yours, dear sister. And it always will be."

Klaus rolled his eyes; his siblings had this exact argument every chance they could.

"Enough, the both of you!"

"None of us are even of age," Rebekah continued, ignoring Klaus.

"Yes, but unlike you, we don't go around advertising that fact. We don't have time for you; Nik and I were discussing something important."

"And what's that?"

"Nothing," Klaus growled.

"Ooo." Rebekah's eyes sparkled, forgetting her annoyance with Kol. "With Nik angry like that, Kol, you must have really struck a nerve."

"I'm in the middle of telling Klaus how he's falling for the lovely Caroline." He turned back to face Klaus. "I've never seen you, dear brother, in such complete and utter denial of something before. This is truly fascinating." Kol shrugged and took another sip of his drink when Klaus sent him an irritated glare. "Just face it brother: you're smitten. Deny it all you want, but your eyes deceive your words. And understandably: Caroline is quite the stunning little creature."

"Watch your tongue." Klaus spoke through gritted teeth.

"Wow," Rebekah said with a laugh. "He clearly cares enough about her to hurl threats. And at his own brother, no less? You might actually be right about this, Kol."

" 'Actually'?"

Rebekah shrugged. "I suppose it had to happen eventually, you getting something right."

Kol gave Rebekah a slight shove before he turned to face Klaus. "See, Nik. Even Bekah here can tell that you're besotted by Caroline Forbes."

"Wait. Caroline Forbes is who you're pining after?" Rebekah was in shock— sure, she knew that Klaus had been spending time with **a** Caroline; she had no idea that it was **the** Caroline Forbes: cheer captain, Miss Mystic Falls, head of nearly every social planning committee at school, and basically the person Rebekah wanted to be in her senior year.

"No one is pining, Rebekah," Klaus mumbled.

"Aiming high, big brother."

"You know her?" Kol asked his sister.

She nodded. "She's the captain of the cheer squad."

"Oh, of course! Now I know why she looks familiar. I just didn't recognize her without the skimpy cheer outfit."

Klaus glared at Kol. "Say another word and I will tear out your liver."

Kol ignored Klaus's threat. "Honestly, Nik, you sure know how to pick them. The cheer captain? Talk about flexible."

"That's disgusting, Kol. I'm a cheerleader, too."

"Don't remind me, Bekah. You ruined nearly every cheerleader fantasy I've ever had the day you joined the squad. And that's saying something," he added with another smirk.

"Gross." She gave him a smack up the side of his head. Then she turned her attention back to Klaus. "I'm surprised Caroline Forbes would give you the time of day, Nik. Honestly, that girl is the walking definition of a perfectionist."

This did nothing to quell Kol's smirk.

"She's a bit off her rocker sometimes," Rebekah continued, "But she's really not half bad, Nik. You could do a whole lot worse."

Klaus shook his head at his siblings' nonsensical conversation about him as he clenched his teeth in irritation. He leaned further into the counter and rested his elbows on the bar top, trying to ignore them.

All this talk was foolish, Klaus thought, glaring down into his drink as his siblings chattered on around him. And about him.

This whole conversation was completely ridiculous to him.

Yes, he could admit that he was starting to care for Caroline. He'd become quite fond of her and all her quirks. She could make him smile and even laugh, quite an impressive feat. She could make him forget even his name with just a soft word and caress of her lips.

He enjoyed her. And she certainly challenged him.

But that was as far as it went. He didn't love her.

Love was a weakness. Love was a foolish notion reserved for fairy tales and cheesy movies. It didn't exist.

It certainly didn't exist in his world. He didn't love. Not in the way his siblings were insinuating with their highly unwanted opinions.

Hadn't she told him as much earlier? How he refused to understand anyone. How he never connected.

And he wouldn't now. Not like this. And certainly not under the circumstances under which they'd grown closer. Even though he never spent one cent of Tyler's money, it still hung over his head, like a descending noose.

Klaus cleared his throat, straightened up, and motioned to the bartender to refill his glass. "I can't feel anything for her; it would be unfair. My darkness would destroy her light." He wasn't sure why he'd said that out loud.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, Nik. Only light can do that. And hate cannot drive hate out. Only love can do that."

Klaus and Rebekah both turned their heads quickly to look at Kol. Klaus quirked an eyebrow at his brother; Rebekah could not close her gaping mouth. "Since when do you walk around quoting Martin Luther King, Jr.?" Klaus asked.

"Whenever his words become situationally appropriate," Kol replied, offhandedly, with a slight shrug.

Klaus's lips quirked up into his trademark smirk. "Think what you will," he said with a carefree shrug before lifting his glad up to his lips. "But keep those ludicrous assumptions to yourselves. Your yammering is hurting my head."

"And we're back to deflecting," Kol sighed, shaking his head.

"That's fine," Rebekah added. "Have it your way, Nik. But we know that sooner or later, you will come to your senses and admit it. Though first, you'd have to actually admit that people care about you."

"And I'll be happily loitering nearby, just waiting for the perfect opportunity to interrupt and say 'I told you so'." Kol smirked. "In the meantime, while you're deflecting and denying the obvious, I've noticed the pretty little thing over there," he mused aloud. "Playing billiards all alone. How sad. I think I'll go relieve her of her boredom." He winked at Klaus.

"You'll only add to her suffering, Kol," Rebekah said as he walked away from the bar and towards the pretty brunette. "She'll now be bored **and** with you."

She turned back to Klaus and sat down on the bar stool closest to him. "Caroline Forbes? Really?" He said nothing. "Honestly, what's going on with you, Nik?"

Klaus sighed as he thought about how to begin telling Rebekah about Caroline and everything that had happened. He knew he could no longer keep this from his sister.


	11. Chapter Ten: Darkness and Light

Chapter Ten – Darkness and Light

* * *

**Note to self: never promise weekly updates again, regardless of how much you have written before you begin posting the chapters. Oy!**

* * *

**A/N: I wasn't sure whether to make this a really long chapter, or split it into a chapter and an epilogue.**

**I decided to split it; this is the final chapter (so I can still kind of stick to my goal of the appropriate-sounding 10 chapters), but there will be an epilogue.**

**P.S. I just want to say thank you to everyone who has reviewed. Seriously, thank you! Those two words are **not** enough. I learned something new from every single one, and I see my own story from a different angle each time, or I get inspired to add something. Each review — and therefore each reviewer — has added something to "Tensions & Hostilities," making it so much better. You all have such amazing ideas. Thank you for being kind enough to share them with me.**

**You are all too amazing to capture properly in words!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Caroline walked through the school hallways after school. In her rush to avoid everyone and get to cheer practice, she had grabbed the wrong clipboard from her locker. The prom checklist would not help her cheerleaders.

As she neared a corner, she heard voices coming from down the next hallway. She paused when she heard her name and realized that she recognized those voices.

"Caroline is pissed." It was Elena's voice. "I'm so sorry, Klaus. I knew you were involved with this scheme, but I had no idea it had gotten so out of control."

He sighed. "In my experience, that is exactly what happens when Tyler Lockwood becomes involved in anything." Klaus was speaking now.

_Klaus and Elena?!_

"I had no idea he was even involved. I feel just awful about it."

There was a pause before Elena spoke again.

"Has she spoken to you?" Her voice sounded tentative

"Only to tell me off. Otherwise, Caroline won't even look at me."

"Me either. Maybe she just needs time?"

"Yes, perhaps." But Caroline could tell from Klaus's tone that he didn't believe Elena's statement. He believed that she was lost to him forever.

"I have faith that everything will work out for you two. That might sound lame now, but you two really are sort of perfect for each other. I never would have guessed at you two together," Elena chuckled slightly, "but it makes sense to me now. You balance each other out. Maybe some good can come out, eventually, from this current crappy situation."

"She has to let me back in, first," Klaus pointed out.

Caroline stopped listening, having gotten lost in her own thoughts.

She knew what Klaus had said the other night outside the Grill was absolutely correct: the two of them never would have spoken to each other if he hadn't been the one chosen. And Caroline didn't know if she and Klaus were as 'perfect' together as Elena thought, but they did balance each other out. He calmed her overexcitedness and she soothed his roughness. She was the eternal optimist and he only saw the dark aspects. They were almost akin to light and dark.

Klaus had also been right about Caroline and her expectations of everything: "_Do you purposely set up these illusions that no mortal can live up to so everyone can only disappoint you, further proving your points to yourself?_" She had denied it, in the heat of the moment during their confrontation, because that was her instinct: deny. But she very clearly felt the sting of the truth behind his words. And his words still haunted her.

It scared her to realize how well he knew her in such a short amount of time.

Caroline turned around and took the long route to her locker; she didn't want to see Klaus or Elena after overhearing their conversation. Good thing they had been chatting near his locker and not Elena's.

When Caroline reached her locker and opened it, she shoved her prom clipboard inside and moved it to the back to avoid this mix-up again. She grabbed her other clipboard, the one with the cheer routines and formations, closed her locker, and walked back to the locker room. She moved quickly, but she kept her eyes and ear open, listening for the unwanted sounds of Klaus or Elena.

She was halfway down one corridor when she glanced down at the clipboard in her hand and froze on the spot.

On top of her cheer squad papers, and directly under the clip, was a different piece of paper. It appeared to be parchment — sort of brown, curled and uneven at the edges, and fragile-looking.

Even though she was running late, Caroline opened the clip, pulled out the piece of parchment, and stared at it, stunned.

It had to be from Klaus. She didn't know anyone else who could draw. (Well, Jeremy Gilbert could draw, but not like this. And Caroline never knew him to draw people.)

And that's exactly what it was: a drawing of Caroline singing onstage at the Grill's karaoke night the other week.

Klaus had told her that he heard her sing, but she thought he was just joking or bluffing.

All thoughts of cheer practice vanished from her head: she couldn't think of anything else except that sketch. She knew Klaus could draw; that was one of the few personal things he had told her. She had asked if he was any good, and he said he was "_decent_."

_Clearly a huge understatement._

She had also asked if she could see any of his sketches, and he had basically avoided the idea by saying, "_Maybe someday, love._"

She had blushed, thought, and felt that heat nearly to her toes when Klaus mentioned how he could only draw when he was feeling inspired, and how he had been drawing a lot lately, ever since they began spending time together. (Caroline chose not to completely ruin that moment by pointing out that 'spending time together' was not exactly how she would classify their time together, at least not initially; he stalked her.)

_Details_.

She had found it odd — and told him so — that he was an artist; she didn't think it fit with what she knew, or was beginning to know, about him. But after he explained it, she understood completely.

"_Art is, essentially, a metaphor for control. I can use sheer will to create almost anything I want. And every choice is mine: if I'm sketching, I choose the paper and the pencil; if I'm painting, I choose the canvas, the colours, the brush…_"

"_Wow_," Caroline had chuckled — amused and yet intrigued. "_And I thought __**I**__ was a control freak._"

She couldn't stop running her eyes over the drawing in her hand. It was amazing!

The piece of parchment was a little larger than your typical photograph, but this was better than even the best photo. She looked absolutely beautiful. It was like looking in a mirror that corrected everything.

_Is this really how he sees me?_

He made her look radiant, and he was somehow able to capture that radiance on paper, using just a pencil. She felt honoured that he would give this to her, even if she was supposed to be angry with him. He could have gotten her jewelry or flowers, or bought her some trifle object. But he didn't. He gave her a piece of himself. His art. Something he kept private and she felt so special because of it.

And it was odd; Caroline felt like she could learn so much about Klaus from this drawing of her. It allowed her to see herself through his eyes.

And she was having trouble breathing because of it.

* * *

Klaus watched the cheerleading practice that day.

And again, his focus was completely on Caroline. All the girls were wearing shorts and tanks, but his eyes were drawn only to her. Her blonde hair was in a bouncy ponytail and her long creamy legs were bared for his appreciation. He wanted nothing more than to trail his fingers along the silky skin of her legs.

He wasn't sure why he was there; she hated him for his involvement with Tyler, and after their argument outside the Grill, she definitely would hate him even more.

_If that was even possible._

But still he stayed for the duration of their practice. He had nowhere else to go anyway.

He heard Caroline end the practice. As the girls were grabbing their water bottles and gym bags and heading for the locker rooms, he perked up when he saw Rebekah approach Caroline.

But he was too far away to listen in.

* * *

"Caroline, may I have a word with you?"

Rebekah had been stalling after cheer practice ended, waiting for a moment like this, for Caroline to be alone.

Caroline had a quizzical expression on her face, but she nodded anyway. "Sure."

"The reason I wish to speak with you is not because of cheerleading."

Caroline nodded hesitantly; she had figured as much — she hadn't spoken a non-cheerleading-related word to Rebekah ever. This would be about Klaus.

"I don't mean to be rude, Rebekah, but I don't want to hear you speak with me about your brother. It's none of your business, actually."

Caroline moved to grab her bag, but paused when Rebekah said, "You're wrong, Caroline." She stood up and faced the other blonde. "I mean, you're partially right, which also makes you partially wrong." When Rebekah paused to collect her thoughts before continuing, Caroline noted — for the first time — how similar Rebekah's accent was to her brother's. "Yes, what happens between the two of you is completely your business. But when what happens — or doesn't happen — between the two of you affects his behaviour with me, then it is my business."

Caroline was having trouble following Rebekah's high-speed words. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know if he told you, but Nik and I have always been the closest. Of all our siblings. So since we're the closets, I'm the one most likely to notice all the minute changes in his behaviour — as well as the large ones. And for the past few weeks leading up to prom, I'd never seen him look so happy. I could tell he was conflicted about something, but he was the happiest I've seen him since we were young. I thought he was conflicted about leaving me once he finishes school, but now I know that he was conflicted about the money."

Caroline groaned. "Did you know about it, too?"

_Great! Someone else who was it on it._

Rebekah shook her head. "Nik never told me the truth until after you found out. But he did tell me everything. And I'm probably breaking some sacred bond of siblings or siblinghood by telling you this — not that I am going to completely break his trust in me or anything — but there are a few things I feel you need to know."

"Are you seriously going to stand there and make excuses for him to me?" Caroline shook her head. "I don't want to hear it, Rebekah."

"No," she said quickly, hoping to stop Caroline, who had grabbed her bag and was beginning to walk away. "I'm just trying to explain his behaviour."

It worked; Caroline halted her movements. She wanted nothing more than to stop having this ridiculous conversation with Rebekah, but she was **so** curious. She turned back to Rebekah and fiddled with the strap on her bag, waiting for the other blonde to speak.

"He has a darkness inside of him. I'm not saying this to scare you off; I'm sure you've witnessed aspects of it already. My brother hasn't had the easiest life. He always received the unfair end of everything. And then, there was Tyler Lockwood — someone, by the way, who has had everything that was denied to Nik — offering him money to spend time with a beautiful woman. That's how Nik refers to you, you know; he always says you're beautiful, not pretty."

Caroline did her best to stop the smile and the blush that wanted to appear on her face. She had noticed that too, but it was a completely different feeling to hear it from someone else — from an outsider to their relationship, even if it was his sister.

_Their relationship?_

Caroline shook her head to clear away her mental slip up and focused on Rebekah's words.

"Yes, it was wrong for him to do anything like that for money — very stupidly wrong — but Nik never had any of his own. Our father always said giving an allowance to… to someone like Nik was a waste of his hard-earned money. And no one in Mystic Falls wants Klaus Mikaelson working for them. I try to share some of my allowance with him, but Nik never lets me. So obviously he jumped at the chance to make his own without our father knowing. He needs money to get out of this town. And he enjoyed taking something away from Tyler, too."

_What kind of a parent would give an allowance to one child and not the other? Why did the younger one receive something while the older one received nothing?_

Rebekah was creating more questions in Caroline's already-very-curious mind.

"He never expected to fall for you, Caroline. He never even expected to enjoy spending time with you. But he did. That's why he was so conflicted. Caring about you presented two problems to him: the first and obvious one was that he started feeling guilty for taking the money, even though he needs it; but the second issue was that if he started to care about you, he was afraid that would create another tie for him to this town, and form another reason for him to hesitate instead of leave. He doesn't have many ties to this town — Kol and I may be the only ones, now that our older brothers have moved away — but you've quickly been one he's added to his list. That's incredible for him."

Caroline shook her head softly. "I know he wants to leave. I don't want to be a reason for him to stay in a town that he wants nothing to do with."

It wasn't the town that Klaus wanted nothing to do with, but Rebekah couldn't say that to Caroline; that **would** be a large betrayal of her brother's trust.

If Caroline did ever find out why Klaus wanted to put as much space between him and this town, she'd have to find out from Klaus himself.

"Beside," Caroline continued, pulling Rebekah from her mini inner turmoil. "I've been rather mean to him since the prom; I'm sure he wants nothing to do with me anymore."

"Hardly," Rebekah said with a scoff. "You may not be able to see it, but he cares about you. A lot. And it scares him. Like I said, he doesn't want another tie here, but he can't help how he feels about you. And I think you care about him, too." When Caroline didn't respond, Rebekah added, "And you're good for him."

Caroline sighed. "Not the first time I've heard that today."

"That's probably because it's true. You're good and optimistic in the way he isn't capable of being. You **are** good for him."

"Actually," Caroline said with a smile as a thought occurred to her, "I think he's good for me. He's basically caused me to re-evaluate everything in my life. It's scary, but oh so needed. I just never realized that."

Even though absolutely nothing changed, both girls were suddenly made aware of Klaus's presence; he hadn't moved, but they both looked over to him at the same moment.

Caroline felt the heat rush to her face. "I should go change. It was nice talking to you, Rebekah." And it had been. Rather illuminating.

"Just think about what I've said, Care."

* * *

Rebekah stood still as Caroline left the field and headed inside the school. She turned back to face her brother, still sitting in the bleachers. She sighed, walked over, and sat down next to him.

"She seems to be under the impression that you want nothing to do with her."

"So?" Klaus realized, too late, that he should have asked who the 'she' was that Rebekah referred to.

"So then why are you here Nik?"

He gave his best Cheshire grin. "To see you, dear sister."

She snorted, but she was not amused. "You're such a liar. And a bad one, too."

She didn't say any more; neither did he. Silence was something they shared; they bonded better without uttering a word.

Rebekah let out a sigh; that was Klaus's indicator that she was about to speak.

"You know, Elijah once told me something about you. And I never realized it at the time, but he was exactly right. Though I should know better than to question Elijah's observations." She said that last bit more to herself than to Klaus. She quietly cleared her throat slightly before focusing her attention again on her brother. "He said that, given a chance at happiness, you would run in the opposite direction. And he's absolutely correct. That's what you do, Nik — you push us away and then you run." She turned and faced her brother; he wouldn't look at her, but she knew he heard every word. "Don't run from her, too."

She saw his jaw clench, but other than that, she received no response from him.

Rebekah stood — she needed to shower and change out of her tank and shorts that were sweaty from cheer practice. But before she walked away, she paused. Not looking at Klaus, she simply whispered, "She'll come around, Nik." The '_if you'll let her_' was heavily implied. Then she left him alone on the bleachers.

Again, he didn't respond; he didn't know how to respond, or even if he should respond, so he remained quiet as his sister walked away.

* * *

Caroline felt as though her head could explode at any moment. Everyone else's words were running through her mind.

Klaus's: "_You're beautiful; you're strong; you're full of light; I enjoy you._"

Bonnie's: "_He obviously likes you. Take a chance on him, Care. It could turn into something really great._"

And Klaus's: "_I'm not sorry._"

Elena's: "_You two really are sort of perfect for each other._"

Klaus again: "_I never would have spoken a word to you otherwise. And now I cannot imagine wanting to not speak with you, or to hear your voice, or even merely to see your face._"

Even Rebekah's: "_He never expected to fall for you, Caroline. He cares about you. A lot. And it scares him._"

But most prominently, she could just hear that stupidly adorable accent: "_Take a chance, Caroline._"

She didn't know what to think anymore. And that was the problem; Caroline knew that she really just needed to ignore them all and figure out what she wanted.

When she got home after cheer practice, she changed into her comfiest pyjamas and laid down on her bed. Yes, it was a bit early for pjs, but she really didn't care. No one was going to see her anyway: her mother was working (as usual), she was still angry with Elena, and who knows where Bonnie was or which side of this she stood on (though she would probably side with Elena against Caroline, if Caroline was being honest with herself — that was how it usually worked out).

She stared up at the ceiling, trying to figure out how she felt — not how she _should_ feel, and not how she _wanted_ to feel, but how she _actually_ felt.

It turned out to be a harder task than Caroline could have imagined.

Could she trust anything that happened between her and Klaus, or was it all an act on his part, just doing what he had to do to get the money?

But regardless of what anyone else said, Caroline knew her own heart. She was hurt that so many people were involved in a scheme about her behind her own back; it was embarrassing. But she honestly wasn't sure if she hated Klaus for that. He only went along with a good-sounding opportunity.

She couldn't deny the rush of warmth she felt whenever she saw him or the way her heart jumped when he smiled at her in that peculiar way reserved especially for her, half of his mouth quirked up like he was plotting something. She knew that she didn't hate him. She knew it in the way that you just now things, deep within your chest with no questions or reassessments.

But was it okay to look past the bad — the fact that someone was paid to spend time with her — if it resulted in something good? It resulted in something amazing, actually.

Klaus was right: they never would have interacted in any way if Tyler hadn't paid him to do so … If Stefan hadn't gotten Tyler involved … If Elena hadn't asked Stefan to find someone…

More importantly, could she really just walk away from him, and the feelings he inspired in her?

The truth was, even when she was angry, and even when she thought about the money from Tyler, she still could not stop thinking about a certain mysterious rebel.

His ability to make her laugh and weak in the knees at the same time. How he said her name in that accent of his, with just a hint of a lilt at the end of it.

His infectious laugh — whenever he did let loose enough to laugh. The way he would wrinkle his nose when he didn't like something. The fact that he was comfortable to be around.

Could she trust anything that happened between her and Klaus? She knew how she felt, and she knew that she was being genuine during their interactions, but was it all an act on his part? She kept returning to that same question. Was he just doing what was necessary to get the money?

Caroline realized that some things — some feelings — were more important that a little wreckage.

And yes, things were pretty messy between them. But she believed that everything after the initial contact/reaching out — minus the prom invite, perhaps — was real. She had to believe it. No one could fake all that. He wasn't that good of an actor, she was certain.

Suddenly, shot up into a sitting position on her bed. Inspiration hit her smack on the forehead.

_Where did I put my English assignment?_

She quickly found her notebook and pulled out her poem. She scanned it quickly, saw that it was unsatisfactory due to her sudden attack of inspiration, and set it aside. She grabbed a pen and started the assignment over again.

No biggie: it was only due tomorrow in class.

* * *

"All right," the English teacher said as she stood up from her desk on Friday. "I'm assuming everyone found time to compose their poems, their own version of Shakespeare's Sonnet #141. Including those of you who are taking homework to Mr Lockwood. Visiting a delinquent does not excuse one from one's assignments."

She looked around the room to see if anyone would laugh at her joke, or even smile, just a little — it's not every day that she gets the opportunity to openly take a jab at the mayor's son. No one was laughing.

She cleared her throat continued. "Would anyone care to read their aloud?"

No one moved.

Then Caroline slowly raised her hand. "I'll go."

Klaus looked up from his desk at the sound of her voice.

The English teacher had an _Oh, Lord_ look on her face, but she gestured to the front of the classroom beside her and told Caroline to "Please, proceed."

Caroline stood and walked to the front of the class. She took a deep breath before reading from the notebook in her hands.

I hate the way you talk to me  
And the way you cut your hair.  
I hate the way you drive my car.  
I hate it when you stare.

She paused for only a second or two, and then continued.

I hate your big dumb combat boots  
And the way you read my mind.  
I hate you so much it makes me sick,  
It even makes me rhyme.

Caroline let slip a small chuckle at her last line before taking a deep breath. She glanced up from the words on the page just long enough to let her eyes land on Klaus. He was staring, quite intently, at the floor just in front of his desk.

I hate the way you're always right.  
I hate it when you lie.  
I hate it when you make me laugh;  
Even worse when you make me cry.

She felt a lump form in her throat, making it hard to swallow. She never expected to become emotional while reading this out, but it was all true. Every word.

She paused for a few seconds, in attempt to swallow, and continued reading.

I hate it when you're not around  
And the fact that you didn't call,  
But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you;  
Not even close; Not even a little bit;  
Not even at all.

As Caroline said the last four lines, she wasn't reading from her notebook anymore. She looked directly at Klaus. And this time, he looked back at her.

They exchanged a look once Caroline finished speaking. It lasted only a moment before she closed her notebook and walked out of the classroom.

The rest of the class remained still, in stunned silence.

* * *

After Caroline left the English classroom, she dropped her notebook into her locker, grabbed her school bag, and walked straight to her car. She didn't want to be at school any longer.

_Another day of cutting out early._

She had just exposed herself, metaphorically and emotionally, in front of her English class, and she didn't want to see anyone else. She just wanted to go home and hide.

When she opened her car door, she was greeted by a long, black, velvety box sticking out from her steering wheel.

She dropped her book bag onto the driver's seat and slowly picked up the box. She stared at it for a few moments before opening it. Inside sat a diamond bracelet.

To say it was extraordinary would be an understatement. It was in the shape of a string of bows. She was stunned and speechless.

She felt the presence of someone behind her; she spun around, still clutching the opened velvet box, and found Klaus standing there, close to her, smiling hesitantly.

"Stunning, isn't it?"

She let out a shocked gasp. "A diamond bracelet? Is it for me?"

He nodded. "It suits you." Caroline didn't answer, but she was hiding a smile. He stepped even closer to her. "Besides, I had some extra cash. Some asshole paid me to take out this really amazing girl."

She smiled up at him. "Is that right?"

"Yes. But I screwed up. I began to fancy her."

Caroline was shocked by his admission. "Really?"

He did that thing where he tilts his head down to capture and holds her gaze. He smiled when he put his hands on the outside of her upper arms and she didn't pull away from him. "It's not every day that I find someone who will break me out of detention, love."

She smiled hugely at that memory.

He had never felt so at ease with another person as he did with the amazing blonde angel he now had in front of him. He was thrilled that she was no longer pushing him away.

"I've never had a poem read to me before."

"Yes, I really go all out sometimes," she replied with a laugh. "I even had an audience in place to join you."

"Quite the show, love." He pulled her closer.

"But do **not** expect it to ever happen again," she cautioned as she stuck out her index finger close to his face.

He shook his head lightly as he reached up to cup the side of her face. He pulled her closer to him, pressing his lips to hers. She sighed against him and he deepened the kiss, pulling her even closer to him.

He had missed this. But despite what he wanted to do, he didn't continue kissing her for too long.

He pulled away, but rested his forehead against hers.

She kept her eyes closed for a few moments, enjoying the feeling of having him near. But she spoke, eventually. "Do you think we can dig ourselves out of this wreckage?"

"We could start over," he suggested. Yes, that probably meant he wouldn't get to kiss her all the time, but he wouldn't mind starting over and forgetting the Lockwood-money thing.

She shook her head. "I don't want to start over; that implies forgetting what happened. And I don't want to forget **all** of it. We had a few great moments."

"Only a few?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

She laughed and pulled away further. She turned around and reached into her car — the driver's side door was still open. She rummaged around in her bag until she found it.

Klaus remained quiet, but very curious, as he watched her.

She turned back to face him with the item now in her hands. "Did you do this?"

He smirked when he saw the piece of parchment. "You carry it around with you?"

"I can't ask you about it if I don't have it with me." She knew the answer already, but she had to ask. She wanted to hear it from him.

"Who else were you expecting it to be from?" He couldn't hold back his smile any longer, seeing the expression on her face.

"It's extraordinary. Thank you."

"It is a poor representation of the original."

She opened her mouth to argue, but his lips met hers and silenced whatever she was going to say.

This time, the kiss was much shorter. Caroline pulled away. "But you can't just buy me jewelry every time you screw up, you know."

Klaus grimaced slightly. "I know."

They laughed before kissing again.

Caroline pulled away again, just slightly this time. "And don't just think you can —"

He kissed her again, not letting her finish this time. Not that she minded; she'd let him know eventually. For now, she was content to feel his fingers move along her neck and across her back as she ran hers across his shoulders. A couple of her fingers found themselves intertwined with the necklaces he always wore.

* * *

**A/N: The epilogue is next.**

**And for those who I told that Klaus's story — and the mystery year — would be revealed in this chapter: oops! It is coming up next. (Promise!) I said that before I had even considered the idea of an epilogue.**


	12. Epilogue

Epilogue

* * *

Caroline was at home on Sunday afternoon, masterfully multi-tasking between studying for her History final and working on some final prep work for graduation — she smiled to herself at how she was memorizing the dates, people, and facts surrounding important moments in her country's history while planning for an important moment in her own personal history — when someone knocked at her front door.

She opened it and couldn't hide her smile, even if she had wanted to. "Klaus, hi."

He returned her grin. "Hello, love."

"Not that I'm complaining, but what brings you by?" She tilted her head slightly.

"To see you," he responded, rather matter-of-factly.

She rolled her eyes in an amused sort of way. "Duh. I would hope you're not here to see my mom."

"The sheriff?" He scrunched his nose slightly in aversion. "I think not."

"Good." She chuckled.

She quickly closed the distance between them, gliding her soft lips over his. His hand cupped her face, pulling her into him. She let herself melt into his chest as she lifted her arms to wrap them around his neck. He immediately took control of the kiss, going slow and sipping at her lips as if he was taking his time to explore every inch.

He ended the kiss, but remained close as he spoke.

"Since we're not starting over, I don't have to pretend that I don't know where you live."

"Right," she confirmed, but she had no idea what direction he was heading in.

He ducked his head slightly, capturing her gaze. "Are you free now?"

Any thoughts of studying or planning for graduation flew from her mind as she nodded. "Free for what?"

"A date. A proper one."

"Okay."

"How about going for coffee?" His suggestion came quickly. Caroline figured he must have planned this out beforehand.

She nodded. "Sure!"

They opted to walk over to the coffee shop — they agreed to do so because it was such a lovely day, but that was merely a flimsy excuse to hold each other's hands for the duration.

At the café, Klaus gestured for Caroline to place her order first. She did, and just as she had finished speaking, Klaus quickly added a "to go" on the end of her order before placing his own.

She looked at him, curiously and wondering what he had planned, but he only smirked and paid for their drinks.

"Where are we going?"

He shook his head. "Just wait and see, love."

She gave him a 'no way' look as she placed her hands on her hips. "I'd prefer if you just told me where we're going."

He chuckled at her stubbornness and her need to always be in control. It was something he could relate to. "And I prefer to keep you guessing."

Truthfully, he wasn't sure yet where he was taking her. He wanted to go somewhere quiet — the park, maybe; the cemetery would be rather deserted, as would the football field on a Sunday afternoon. He wanted some place with privacy and seclusion, but definitely outdoors and open — he didn't want to be in a confined place when he had something so important to tell Caroline.

After they received their drinks, they began walking around. She quickly became aware of the fact that Klaus didn't know where to go — or perhaps didn't know where he wanted to go. She smirked to herself and let him lead. It didn't matter to her, anyway.

The football field didn't seem like the right place to go to; Klaus spent enough time there lately, watching Caroline. The cemetery seemed too morbid of a destination — though it would satisfy his need for privacy and openness. They meandered around and ended up at the park; it was surprisingly deserted for a Sunday afternoon — but that was probably because calling it a park was being kind: it was just a large green space with a measly, pathetic swing set at one end.

They headed towards the other end of the park, furthest away from the swing set.

They found that they could talk about the deal now — and about the money — without everything getting weird or tense or distant between them. It wasn't a pleasant topic of conversation — not at all — but it was a tolerable one. And now that Caroline's hurt and the embarrassment of it all had eased off, she was insanely curious about everything.

Klaus shook his head definitively. "I never spent any of the money I received for prom."

She raised her eyebrow. "Really?" She was skeptical.

"I see your disbelief, but it's true."

She extended her wrist, palm down, towards him, displaying the diamond bracelet he had given her. "What about this? How did you pay for it?" She narrowed her gaze a bit. "Or where did you steal it from?"

He paused for a moment, enjoying the sight of his gift on her wrist. Then he ignored her second question. "I bought it with the money I had received from going to that party out by the falls with you."

Whenever possible, Klaus avoided mentioning Tyler Lockwood's name. He always made it sound like the money was a gift from some unknown or unseen force. It wasn't as if Caroline didn't know, but he didn't want Lockwood interfering with their relationship any more than his stupid agreement had already. He was back on good footing with Caroline and he didn't want to mess that up. He probably would in some way, but he didn't want things to get messy over the money or Lockwood. Not again.

That's why Klaus was being so honest with her.

"And the dress?"

He grinned as he pictured it. "You look stunning in blue." Rather, he pictured her wearing it.

She rolled her eyes, but she knew he could see the heat rushing to her face. "Did you pay for it with the money from our day at the fair?"

"No, actually, that day didn't involve money."

He responded rather casually as he took another sip of his drink, but his response surprised her.

"Really? So I broke you out of detention and then you spent the afternoon with me because you wanted to?"

He nodded. "I was only paid twice: for the party by the falls and prom. And I was so disgusted by my actions that I never kept the money for prom."

"You gave it back?"

"No," he scoffed. "I gave it to a homeless man." A trouser-less homeless man.

Most of his answers today were surprising Caroline. "So what about the dress?"

He didn't want to divulge this information to her, but he didn't have much of a choice. They **were** being honest with each other, after all. "I used my savings."

"You what?!"

He shrugged. Yes, it had been costly, but Caroline deserved it. And it was more than pleasant for him, too; he didn't hate seeing her wear that dress. Not at all.

Klaus wasn't sure where to go from here. He had invited Caroline out today for a very specific reason. But now that they had arrived, he found himself feeling hesitant again. He wanted her to know about his past — his personal life — but at the same time, he preferred that she didn't know. What would she think? How would she react? He couldn't stand the idea of seeing the pity that he knew would be in her eyes.

But now that she was a part of another aspect of his personal life, she **should** know.

He was still incredibly uncertain and reluctant to begin explaining the turmoil of his home life, but he decided to swallow that down and press forward. Now was the time for her to know — they made it through the money thing; this was their next hurtle.

Apparently nothing would be too easy for them.

They sat down, facing each other — legs crossed, knees touching — and continued sipping away at their drinks.

Klaus didn't know how to initiate such a conversation. He'd never spoken in such detail about this to anyone before; his siblings all knew most of the details because they lived with him. But to speak about this with someone not part of his family? He wasn't sure how to proceed.

Turns out, he didn't have to worry about how to enter that conversation. Caroline began down that route, unknowingly, on her own.

"Is that a scar?" She pointed to the upper part of his left arm. He twisted that arm in on himself and saw that one could, in fact, see the tail end of a scar there.

He nodded and stopped drawing attention to it.

"How did you get it?"

He cleared his throat softly. "A fall."

"I have plenty of those, too. Mostly on my legs." She pointed out a small one on her knee. "Cheerleading," she explained with a small half shrug.

Now was the moment; the precipice; the turning point; teetering over the edge; the point of no return; whatever you wanted to call it. He could begin into his 'tale' now, or he could back away and keep it to himself.

He sighed, heavily, before pressing on. That was the reason he chose to seek her out on this particular day. "I have a lot more." He pulled on the hem of his shirt and raised it up to just under the level of his chin. Caroline's eyes dropped down, moving from his eyes to his now-exposed chest and stomach. She let out a soft gasp. She could see more than several small tiny scars scattered across his abdomen. She couldn't help but wonder what made them. There were so many — various shapes, sizes, and colours. Some had ends that were still hidden beneath his clothing.

"Where did they come from?"

He sighed and let his shirt hem fall back down. He stared at the ground, searching for the words.

She saw his reluctance. She quickly reminded him of something. "I told you before: I'm ready to listen when you're ready to tell me," and then she let him have all the time and silence he needed.

When he did speak again, his voice was much softer than before. "My father." He spoke in almost a whisper.

She tilted her head to the side quizzically, not understanding. "What about him?"

When Klaus finally raised his eyes back to Caroline's, he saw that her face was full of confusion. He kept his face cautious and emotionless, but his entire body language screamed out about how uncomfortable he was in that moment.

He swallowed the lump in his throat. "You asked where the scars came from."

Her lips parted as she took in what he was saying. "Your… your father… did that to you?" she asked, unable to really comprehend just what he was telling her.

His lips quirked up into a half smirk. "Stepfather, technically. But that little tidbit of news came out after I had received most of the wounds that left these scars." He spoke with such menace in his voice.

"You accused me of not trying to understand people; of not connecting. There's a reason I'm so guarded, Caroline. A reason I don't trust as willingly as you might think I should." He kept his eyes on hers, warily watching the expressions on her face. "Mikael," he sneered out the name, "the man I grew up calling my father was actually only a father to my siblings, not to me."

Klaus had always been on the receiving end of Mikael's anger. Even before they found out that Klaus was not his biological son.

As a lawyer, Mikael's working hours weren't always 9 to 5. Therefore, Klaus stayed away from the house as much as possible — basically, he only stayed there long enough to eat a late dinner, sleep, and then eat breakfast.

Whenever something happened, something that would send Mikael into a fit of anger, most of Klaus's siblings took the blame for things, hoping to spare Klaus from their father's rage — Elijah often stepped up to take the blame; Rebekah, when she could; and even sometimes Kol; but never Finn. As their mother's favourite, Finn was never close enough to Klaus to do something like that.

This, inevitably, led into where Klaus had been the previous school year — the 'mystery year,' as some had named it.

"I attended school for over two months last year — no one ever seems to remember that; they all think I missed the entire school year."

Caroline nodded her head in agreement; anyone she ever heard reference it always made it sound like he had been gone for the entirety. She was sad to admit that she had no idea either way.

He decided to ease into it. Start with a joke, perhaps. "I wasn't in jail, I don't know Marilyn Manson, I've never slept with a Spice Girl, and I'm not a pyro." He half-smirked at the insanity of those reasons. Oh, how he wished one of them had been the truthful reason he missed so much of the school year. "At least, I'm not yet aware that I am one," he began, referencing the many and rampant rumours that he either overheard about himself or that Kol felt the need to inform him of. He took a deep breath and looked away from her, not meeting her eyes.

He stood, realizing it would be easier to pace around a bit while he told Caroline about his past. He couldn't sit still during it.

She stood, too, but she remained fairly motionless.

"Richmond." His face was stone and emotionless.

"What about it?"

"That's where I was last year."

Even though the direction of their conversation had led to here, Caroline was still shocked that Klaus was opening up about his missing year. She had so many questions — including why he was bringing it up now, when they had just been speaking about his father and his scars — but she knew how rare it was that he was speaking freely, so she kept her mouth shut. She didn't want to shatter this moment.

"I was in the hospital there. I had bruises all over my body and several broken bones, a punctured lung, and a concussion."

"Oh my gosh…" she whispered.

"All thanks to my father."

Caroline felt as if she couldn't breathe. His father hurt him? She had noticed the tension that existed in Klaus whenever he mentioned his parents, but she had no idea that it was for this kind of reason. She suddenly felt sick to her stomach.

"I had healed well-enough before the end of the school year that I could have returned, but it was easier just to keep at the correspondence I had been doing."

Klaus noticed Caroline's expression as he spoke; he watched it switch from confusion to horror. But he never saw pity. He had expected pity — anyone who hears a story like that would feel pity — but once again, she surprised him completely.

One evening in November last year, Mikael came home upset about something and got really drunk — he drank more that evening than he usually did. All Klaus had to do was walk by the entrance to the living room at the wrong time — or any time that evening, really — before Mikael attacked him.

They were the only two people home.

He punched Klaus a few times before throwing him down and kicking him, blaming the teenager for all of his own problems.

Caroline's eyes widened in shock and terror as she let out another gasp. "That's… terrible," she said, her voice hollow.

He moved his hand in a dismissive motion. "I've gotten used to it."

She kept staring at him, trying to grasp what kind of an ordeal of a childhood he had behind him. No wonder he was so messed up.

"I see now why you want to leave this town so quickly. Has he always done this to you? When did it start?"

He clenched his jaw as some of the more poignant moments with his 'father' came back to him. "Mikael has been yelling at me, or demeaning me with his words, for my entire life. The physical abuse didn't start until I was a teenager. I guess that is when I became an acceptable age to hit."

He shrugged, but continued. "It got worse once we learned the truth: I'm not his biological son. My mother had a brief affair and I was the result."

"And he blamed you?" Caroline wasn't sure if she was frightened or outraged.

"It was easier to take his drunken frustrations out on a child than an adult. He'd get angry and drink, but the drink only made him angrier. And any little thing I did, no matter how insignificant, was wrong and I needed to be punished for it. Regardless of what I did, he always found some reason to be angry with me."

"How can you still live with him?"

"I have nowhere else to go. We don't have any family around here. My brothers are both in school and can barely support themselves, let alone me."

"You could report him."

He had expected that comment. "Says the sheriff's daughter." He shook his head. "No, I can't. It's his word against mine; I'm the town miscreant and he's a prominent lawyer. My mother would never speak a word against him. And my siblings are too young and don't know all the details. Over the years, he became more proficient. He would keep the bruises and cuts contained to my upper arms, torso, and thighs."

"Areas easily covered by clothing," she noted.

He nodded.

Caroline felt a bit hypocritical in that moment, telling him to report the abuse he received at home when she never said anything about when Tyler hit her. But that was a one-time thing — not that that justified anything or made it okay. But the abuse in the Mikaelson home has clearly been going on for a long time. And there were minors involved.

"So you just take it?"

He nodded.

He was done with this conversation. He took a deep breath and looked away from her, not meeting her eyes.

He had gotten used to Mikael's abuse — or as used to it as any abuse victim can be, over time. But this time — that cold and dark November evening — was worse. Mikael had been relentless and Klaus couldn't fight back; he had never been strong enough to fight Mikael, but even if he had been, at that point in time he was too badly hurt.

Eventually, someone else came home and Mikael stopped.

Klaus didn't know who it was; all he knew was that Mikael had ceased and then said, "_The idiot fell._"

No one has spoken about that evening since then, so Klaus still has no idea who it was that came home.

The next thing he remembers was being at the hospital.

"No one at the hospital suspected anything?" Caroline was still fighting with her disbelief. Disbelief that a man could do that to a child; disbelief that a mother wouldn't do all she could to protect her son; and disbelief that no one noticed or suspected a thing. "Aren't the staff members trained to detect these sorts of situations?"

He refused to lift his gaze to hers. His remained focused on the ground. "Mikael is a skilled drunk; even when he was completely wasted, he still knew where to hit or attack me, and he knew how to direct the blame elsewhere. He's been the lawyer in abuse cases. And I said nothing; no one would believe the word of a 16-year-old troublemaker over the town's most prominent lawyer."

She placed her hand on his arm lightly, as if she were afraid of causing him any more harm. "I would."

Klaus had many scars, both visible and invisible. There were his physical scars, mostly small and barely there — though some were gigantic and obvious. Caroline would later ask him for more details regarding where they came from, but he would only ever say that Mikael had often been cruel in his punishments.

The invisible scars were the worst ones. It's hard to heal something you cannot see.

He pulled his arm away from her, causing her had to drop heavily to her side. "You wanted to get to know me — well, there you go." He spread his arms out at his sides. "There's my tragic little sob story for you."

He turned on his heels and walked away from her.

Caroline stood still for a moment — stunned and confused at the change in tone — before taking off in a run after him. Once she reached him, she grabbed his arm and pulled, forcing him to turn back to face her.

"What the hell? You're leaving? You can't just drop a bombshell like that and split."

"Just taking a preventative measure, love." His face was emotionless again — like a stone.

"You think I'm going to leave you? I've been asking you to open up to me for forever, and what, now that you have, do you think I'm going to run?" She shook her head. "I get it; your parents don't love you, so you assume that no one else will either. But I'm not the one running away here."

He was avoiding eye contact again.

She moved her hand from his arm and placed it against his cheek, catching his gaze and holding it. "Don't cut me out of your life because of your past. Don't second-guess this. I'm here because I want to be with you. I can't change your past any more than you can, but I **can** help make your present amazing. And maybe even your future?"

He had been rejected, neglected, and torn into bits. She wondered if there was any way for him to get over a lifetime of hurt.

She stepped even closer to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. He responded by wrapping his hands around her waist. She smiled and pressed her lips against his. She stopped much too quickly for either of their liking.

She giggled slightly before she spoke again. "You're kind of stuck with me, Mikaelson." She dragged her hand down his arm. "If you want me."

She hadn't intended to make herself so vulnerable when she made that comment, but she was. She was anxious to know that he was okay with them being together, especially since he seemed convinced that she would want to leave him after learning about his scars.

He raised his hand, pushing away the strand of hair from her face as he gazed down at her. He whispered, "You know I want you," before pressing his lips softly against hers. She hummed contently against his lips. He couldn't help but smile before he pulled away, pressing another kiss to her temple.

"It's not every day that I find someone who I trust enough to tell my past to. And someone who doesn't look at me with pity after hearing it is even rarer."

He tucked some hair behind her ear.

"Most people only see the scars." She ran her hand down his chest, where she knew the majority of the scars laid hidden, underneath his shirt. "But I see the survivor underneath."

She spoke so earnestly and Klaus could feel his chest tighten. He'd never had someone be so gentle with him. Her touch was so light. He'd never told someone the truth about his scars — he'd never even shown them to anyone — but he always imagined that telling someone would result in that person looking at him with such pity and disdain.

She really was unlike anyone he had ever met. And he had no idea what he had done to deserve to have her in his life.

Somehow, as they began walking out of the park and back to Caroline's house, they switched back to talking about the deal with Tyler — this was probably more Klaus's doing than Caroline's.

He told her why he agreed to it.

"To be honest, when Lockwood first suggested the idiotic idea, I agreed to it because I needed the money. I wasn't thinking of you as a person then; you were just a means to a payout. But I only had to spend a few moments with you before I realized how much more you were."

He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her in close against his side as they walked.

She smiled, but decided they had chatted enough about the money scheme for one afternoon. "A Spice Girl?" she asked, referring to the litany of rumours he had mentioned earlier. "Really? I'd never heard that one."

"Because we all have accents, I suppose," he suggested with a sigh.

She laughed at the simplicity and the idiocy of her classmates.

* * *

Caroline spent the entirely of Sunday afternoon and Sunday evening with Klaus. They went back to the Forbes house for dinner — not a problem, since Liz was working — and Caroline let Klaus stay there until nearly midnight. He caught her more than once trying to stifle a yawn before he finally convinced her that he should leave. "You can't yawn your way through school tomorrow, love." She was terrified to think of him going back to that house, but he assured her it would be fine. She only let him go after she had made him promise that he would spend tomorrow after school with her.

He did not need much convincing of that.

"What about your mother?" She had worked up the courage to ask as he was leaving through her front door Sunday night. "Does she know?"

He turned back to her. He had a small smile on his face, but it wasn't genuine enough to reach his eyes. All he said in response was "Ester is a very shrewd and very observant woman."

His mother had never witnessed the abuse in person, but she knew. Whenever Klaus had a new sore spot, or blood or holes in his clothing, she would get a look on her face. A sort of knowing look. But she never did anything about it and she never said anything about it. She treated his clothing as if they were sports-related stains and rips.

Caroline nodded, letting the subject drop. She hadn't expected him to answer her question at all; she knew better than to try and press her luck with any follow up ones. They were moving forward now; the last thing she wanted was to take two steps back.

He ducked his head and they kissed goodbye.

* * *

On Monday evening, Caroline decided to keep things simple for their dinner — ordering in pizza. Shortly after they had eaten and just as they were finishing the cleanup, Caroline answered the knock on her front door and found a sheepish-looking Elena holding a cake, standing next to an amused-looking Damon.

"Hi."

Elena lifted the cake up just a little higher. "It's your favourite."

"Of course it is," Caroline said with a slight laugh. "It's a cake."

Elena's smile grew a little larger and a little less hesitant, knowing just how much she and Caroline loved anything cake-related. "It's an apology cake. It's an I-was-stupid-and-selfish-and-didn't-think-of-anyon e-other-than-myself-and-I'm-sorry cake." She sighed as she realized something important about her actions. "I didn't think at all, honestly."

"Wow." Caroline chuckled. "That's quite an expressive cake."

"You should have seen her in-bakery dilemma, trying to decide which one to get for you," Damon added.

Caroline laughed at that mental image. "I can imagine."

Elena turned slightly and glared at Damon. "You're not supposed to tell her that I bought it, Damon."

He gestured towards Caroline. "I'm sure she knows."

Caroline nodded. "Everyone who was present remembers the bake-sale disaster of our fifth grade, Lena."

"Now that sounds like a good story."

"No, it's not," Elena quickly shouted, before Caroline could explain more in detail to Damon.

"You didn't have to bring me baked goods, you know. Not that I won't accept this delicious-looking cake. But seriously, friends fight, Elena; that doesn't mean they stop being friends."

Elena had a relieved expression on her face as she took in Caroline's words. "So you're still my best friend, even if I did something stupid."

She nodded. "I'm still your best friend, even when you do something **really** stupid."

The girls laughed at that. Then Caroline shifted her gaze to Damon again.

"We haven't officially met." He stepped forward slightly. "I'm Damon."

"Nice to meet you." Caroline pointed her thumb over her own shoulder, gesturing to the inside of her house. "Klaus and I were hanging out, but you two are welcome to join us."

"That sounds great," Elena said cheerfully as Caroline stepped aside for her to enter.

"I hope you like cake, Damon."

"Yes, I do. And I can't wait for you to tell me about the bake-sale disaster of fifth grade," Damon added.

Elena just groaned as she carried the cake into the Forbes' kitchen. She found Klaus standing semi-awkwardly in Caroline's kitchen.

* * *

Time seemed to pass very quickly after that. Before they even fully processed it, graduation day was upon them.

Caroline wrapped her arms around Bonnie. "Happy Graduation! Can you believe we actually made it?"

They were both already wearing their graduation robes and caps.

"No." The pulled apart and Bonnie looked around them. "Where's Elena? We can't do this without her."

Caroline looked around her. She was just about to pull out her phone and call Elena when she heard her friend's voice. "I'm here." She looked past Bonnie and smiled as her best friend made her way to them, wearing her burgundy robe and carrying her graduation cap.

Elena paused for only a second, hesitant. But Caroline's smile grew even larger — if that was possible — as she stepped forward and pulled Elena in for a large hug.

"Are we okay, Care?" Elena asked, while they were still hugging.

She nodded against Elena's shoulder. "We're good."

They pulled away from the hug and Elena turned to hug Bonnie.

Once the hugs were completed, Caroline looked back and forth between her two best friends. "I can't believe it. We're actually here, together. The three of us."

They all laughed slightly.

"Bonnie Bennett, are you crying?"

She did have tears in her eyes; she couldn't help it. Bonnie was always the most emotional one of the three. "It's our last hurrah of high school."

"I know!"

"But it's not the last for us forever," Elena pointed out.

Bonnie nodded. "I'm happy we're here. Together."

"Oh! Group hug!" Caroline extended her arms and the three crashed into each other.

They were able to enjoy a few more moments together, standing there in their graduation robes and caps, before they had to separate and line up in alphabetical order.

The football field had been converted into an outdoor auditorium. A stage was set up at one side, with some chairs on the field for the graduates and their immediate family members. Other guests had to sit in the stadium bleachers.

Mayor Lockwood stood up on the stage at the podium placed exactly in the centre of the banner that read '_Congratulations Seniors! Mystic Falls High School._'

"Welcome parents, family, and friends. What a beautiful day for graduation. Thank you for joining us today on this special day as we celebrate our graduates. So let's get started."

Caroline smiled as each name was read out. She cheered when she heard "Bonnie Bennett" and Caroline caught sight on Mr Bennett proudly clapping from the audience.

When the mayor said, "Caroline Forbes," she stepped onto the stage and made her way over to him. He congratulated her and she forced a smile at his falseness. As she shook his hand, she turned to face the audience and caught her mother's watery gaze. She had to hold back her own tears at the sight.

She was still making her way to her seat amongst the other graduates when Elena's name was called. She cheered and heard Dr and Mrs Gilbert cheering, too. She chucked when she saw Mrs Gilbert try and force a very reluctant Jeremy to his feet for his sister's accomplishment. (Caroline had failed to notice his reaction when Bonnie's name was mentioned.)

Most annoyingly, the mayor actually halted the steady flow of the graduation proceedings when he got to his son's name on the list of graduates. Most of the attendees felt almost compelled to stand, giving Tyler such as ovation as he crossed the stage to his father. Caroline refused to do so.

She wanted to gag.

But she laughed, too, when she saw, even from her seat, how bruised Tyler still was. Apparently no amount of makeup could cover it properly, though clearly he had tried.

She rolled her eyes, and they landed on Klaus who, thankfully, did not have to line up directly behind Tyler. (There were two students between them.) He held her gaze, smirking slightly, until his name was called. It was as if his name was being called for boarding — one way, out of town.

Damon quite literally strutted across the stage when his name was said. She shook her head, amused, and caught sight of Stefan applauding next to a man she could only assume was Mr Salvatore. She could also hear Elena cheering nearby.

Once Mayor Lockwood wrapped up the ceremony, everyone was free to mingle. Caroline was standing with Bonnie and Elena when we felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned just in time for her mother to pull her in for a hug.

"I am **so** proud of you, sweetheart." Liz spoke into her daughter's ear; Caroline could hear it in her voice that her mother still had tears in her eyes (or a new batch of tears).

"Thanks, mom!"

Once they pulled away, Caroline asked Bonnie to take a picture of her with her mother. After that, Liz congratulated Bonnie and Elena, too. Then she apologized for having to leave for work. Caroline was not surprised, but it didn't matter; she was just glad that her mom was able to make an appearance and see her walk across that stage. Liz had been absent for so many milestones in Caroline's life that she was glad her mother could witness this one. It meant more to Caroline than she could properly express.

The girls were soon joined by others: Mr Bennett, first, and then Jeremy with Dr and Mrs Gilbert. After chatting for a few moments, the group began to split up. Bonnie and Jeremy went off on their own after Mr Bennett left. And Elena said goodbye to her parents and went over to Damon, who had been lingering nearby. (Apparently he wasn't too close with his father, so they hadn't needed to spend much time together after the ceremony concluded.)

Caroline found herself wandering around. She said hi to a few people, but she was really looking for Klaus. She made her way through the crowds, pausing only when she noticed a familiar head of blonde hair. Rebekah's.

She got closer, but then hesitated. They were smiling and chatting; she didn't want to interrupt. She noticed neither Mikael nor Ester were present at this particular moment.

Klaus noticed Caroline first. When Rebekah caught onto her brother's sightline, she waved Caroline over. She smiled and joined them, standing close to Klaus.

"Congratulations, high school graduate," Rebekah said.

Caroline's smile grew wider at the title. "Thanks!"

Klaus leaned his head down closer to her ear. "You look beautiful, love."

"You look pretty great, too."

"I'm glad to get rid of this thing now."

Klaus moved to remove his grad robe, but Rebekah held out her hand to stop him. "No, wait. I want a picture first."

He groaned. "Bekah, no."

"Yes," was all she said to her brother. Then she turned her attention to Caroline. "Caroline, will you take a picture of us?"

Caroline nodded. "Sure." She took Rebekah's offered phone. "Smile," she said in a sing-song manner, most specifically to Klaus. He glared at her, but did finally do ask she commanded. Caroline quickly snapped a picture while he was cooperating.

Rebekah took her phone back and looked at the photo. "Oh, this looks great. Thanks, Caroline!"

Klaus groaned again.

"It does look great, Klaus," Caroline offered.

"I think I'll send this to Finn and Elijah, too."

"Hope you're happy," Klaus whispered in Caroline's ear.

She grinned up at him. "Yes, I am."

"Okay, now one of you two," Rebekah suggested.

"What the hell," Klaus said, throwing his hands up in the air. He has always hated being photographed.

Once that was done — and that picture turned out even better than the previous one — Rebekah immediately sent both of the pictures to Klaus's phone and to Caroline's. Then she told Klaus that it was okay to remove his robe. She quickly followed that up with "Give Caroline and I a moment alone, would you?"

"You cannot order me around, Bekah."

She rolled her eyes. "Just do it, Nik."

Klaus rolled his eyes and Caroline laughed inwardly at how similar they were. As an only child, Caroline only ever experienced the sibling relationship from the outside. He looked to Caroline. She shrugged but nodded anyway. It seemed easier to appease Rebekah than to argue with her about something so silly. While still skeptical about leaving Caroline alone with his sister, he finally conceded. He took his graduation robe off, helped Caroline remove hers as well, and went to return them, leaving the two girls alone to chat.

Rebekah laughed once Klaus was out of hearing range. "He can never say no to me."

Caroline laughed, too, and watched Klaus's retreating form until he was out of sigh. That didn't take long, given the crowd. She turned back to Rebekah. "Were your parents here?" She hoped that was the best way to phrase such a question.

"Mother made an appearance. She gave Nik a quick hug afterwards and then left with Kol."

"But your father didn't show up?"

Rebekah shook her head. "He couldn't be bothered. I really don't think he could have cared less about this."

Caroline nodded. She shouldn't have asked.

"He told me that he told you. About our parents." Rebekah shook her head at her own word jumble. "I'm glad it didn't scare you away; I thought it might."

"It was unexpected," Caroline began. "And I think part of me still cannot believe someone could be so cruel. I guess I really am more sheltered than I thought."

Rebekah surprised Caroline by pulling her in for a hug. "Thank you," she whispered.

"For what?" Caroline asked as they pulled apart.

"I can see how happy you make him. And I've never seen him care about anyone the way he cares about you." She shrugged. "Maybe you can fix what I haven't been able to."

Caroline didn't know how to respond to that. While she would probably forever be known as 'the fixer,' she really didn't think he needed fixing; he just needed time. And he needed to learn how to not let his past define him. This could, even, make him a stronger person.

But she said nothing to Rebekah, who continued speaking anyway. "I've always thought you were good for him. The two of you are as different as dark and light — literally, in some ways — but you're great together."

Before Caroline could respond, Klaus returned to them. He let his arm wrap around Caroline's waist as he stood next to her. "Are you done interrogating her, Bekah?"

She scoffed at her brother and Caroline was taken aback. She realized — in that moment; with that scoff — that she could see a lot of herself in Rebekah. And not just the blonde hair and the cheerleader parts: Rebekah was just as driven and determined — and stubborn as hell — as Caroline herself.

"I've done no such thing, Nik."

Caroline blocked out the rest of their conversation, which was short. She realized that Rebekah would make an excellent cheer captain next year. Now she knew who to name as her successor. She had been struggling with the decision for weeks now.

_Better late than never, Caroline._

She inwardly scolded herself.

She was brought out of her thoughts and plans when she noticed Rebekah and Klaus were hugging. It was an adorable sight.

"See you later," Rebekah said with a wave as she left them alone.

"Your sister is rather something else."

Klaus barked out a laugh. "She certainly has her moments. When she's not trying to be a know-it-all."

She swatted his arm. "Don't be mean."

"She was right about something. You are definitely the light that combats my darkness."

"That's really cheesy." She rolled her eyes.

"It's true. You're always radiating such light and positivity." He moved a strand of hair to behind her ear, letting his fingers linger there. "It's incredible."

"You aren't always so dark and dangerous. You know, that stupid party out by the falls was the first time that I realized I could potentially have feelings for you," Caroline confessed.

Klaus raised an eyebrow. "I'm surprised you remember much of anything about that evening. You consumed quite a lot of alcohol, love."

She groaned at the memory of that hangover. "Ugh, I know! Don't remind me! At the beginning of that evening, I remember being completely weirded out that you all-of-a-sudden wanted to spend time with me." She smiled at the thought. "Yet another part of me was flattered by the attention. You paid attention to me, made me feel special and appreciated in a way that no one else had."

"You deserve to be appreciated, sweetheart," Klaus replied immediately, pulling her closer to him. He dipped his head and placed a soft kiss to her neck.

"So do you," she murmured. "Then, when I had way too much to drink, you took care of me. I'm usually the one who takes care of everyone and everything else. It was very sweet."

He shrugged. "Well, I had already begun to fancy you by then," he mentioned, nonchalantly.

"Really?" She wrapped her arms around his neck.

He nodded. "I fancied you from the moment I saw you up on that karaoke stage, so joyous and hopeful and beautiful. I knew then that I wanted to show you the world, and that I wanted you by my side, regardless of how heavily that contradicted my persona. It frightened me at first, but I soon realized I couldn't fight it."

She quickly stepped onto her tiptoes and brought his head down so her lips could meet with his. She pulled away shortly after. He was amused as her face reddened. She wasn't one for pda, apparently.

"So what's up next for us? Are you planning to leave town as quickly as you can?"

He gave a quick nod. "I'm 18 and now I've graduated. I'll stick around for a few days, maybe, but not much longer."

She nodded.

"I **was** hoping to have a travel companion."

She beamed at that. "I suppose that wouldn't be the worst way to spend the summer before college," she joked. "Or I could even defer for a year and we could travel further."

He smiled. He wanted nothing more than to kiss her again, but he knew what her reaction would be.

He glanced around them. "Let's get out of here, shall we?"

He extended his hand to her. She nodded and accepted his offer.

As she walked away from the football field, holding hands with Klaus, Caroline realized that her life wasn't supposed to be like this. She was supposed to graduate high school, go to college, meet a nice boy, get married, have children, and become a soccer mom. She was going to have a simple, happy life in Mystic Falls, or somewhere nearby, and travel every ten years on vacation. She wasn't supposed to fall in love with the town's mysterious bad boy and want to run away with him. Her life map had gone in a completely different direction than the one she had drawn up in the seventh grade.

But this way was so much better.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you to everyone reading this. Thank you!**

**I had a lot of fun writing this, and I hope I didn't bore you or twist things too much.**

**And I hope I have responded to every review, unless it was a guest review; I certainly meant to and I apologize if I somehow missed yours.**

**If you could, since this is the end, please leave one final review. Let me know your thoughts.**

**Thank you!**


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